@ SHostetler Here's some additional info that addresses another part of your question:
You wrote: "I filed in January and the irs still hasn’t processed my return."
I'll assume you efiled since it sounds like you chose to pay your product fees out of the Federal refund, and that payment method requires efiling.
Double-check to be sure the return was efiled successfully and accepted.
If you used Online TurboTax, you can sign into your Online Account and check the efile status at the Tax Home.
If that showed it was accepted, you can use the "Where's My Refund" tool at the IRS website below to monitor the status of your Federal refund.
https://www.irs.gov/Refunds
If that tool says your return is "still being processed," here's how you can phone the IRS to inquire about the delay, but it's not easy to reach someone. I have found that for me it was best to call just before closing time--about 6:50-6:55 PM and go through the steps below. I figured a lot of folks would not call that close to closing, and that if I was one of the last to get into the queue, they would finish off all the people who were in the queue at closing time. I still had to wait about 25-30 minutes.
IRS: 800-829-1040 (7AM-7 PM local time) Monday-Friday
When calling the IRS do not choose the first choice re: "Refund", or it will send you to an automated phone line.
- First choose your language. Then listen to each menu before making the selection.
- Then press 2 for "personal income tax".
- Then press 1 for "form, tax history, or payment".
- Then press 3 "for all other questions."
- Then press 2 "for all other questions."
- It may then ask for your SSN, but do not enter it. Just wait. If it asks for SSN a second time, still do not enter it.
- Then it will get "tired", and you'll get another menu. Choose 2 for "personal".
- Then in the next menu choose 4 for "all other inquiries", and it should transfer you to an agent but expect a long wait.
- I usually use a speakerphone so I can work on something else while waiting.
If you have no luck reaching the IRS, or don't get satisfactory information, you can try contacting the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service for your area. They are especially prone to help if you have an economic hardship, or if there have been continued delays with lack of info from the IRS. At the following IRS website, find the USA map and click on your state, and it will give you the number of your IRS Taxpayer Advocate. If the Taxpayer Advocate can't/won't help you, ask them to transfer you to an an IRS agent. A couple of users reported that at least for them, that was a backdoor route to the IRS.
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Contact-a-Local-Taxpayer-Advocate
Also see this article for more info on how the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service works::
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc104.html
