I have a question.

[michael-wooley]

I owed money on my 2018 return, and requested the IRS withdraw the amount from my bank.  It was approved. I later had to file an amended return, in which I owed additional money. I sent the amended return along with a check for the additional money owed. However, the IRS has not taken the initial amount out of my bank.  What should I do?

[Carl]

Do you have proof that your originally e-filed return was accepted by the IRS? I would expect you have an e-mail that specifically stated it was accepted. That would be separate from the e-mail that says it was successfully sent to the IRS.
Depending on when you e-filed the original return, it may take a week or so before they make the withdrawal. However, if you providing the wrong routing number and/or account number, or if the account had insufficient funds at the time of their withdrawal attempt, obviously the payment would fail. When that happens, the IRS sends you a letter that you receive in the mail 3-4 weeks after their failed attempt for the automatic withdrawal.

[michael-wooley]

I do not have a confirmation email.  I guess it is possible that it wasn't accepted initially.

[michael-wooley]

Assuming now that the return did not get filed as I originally assumed, should I wait until the IRS contacts me, or do I need to contact them in regards to the initial filing/amount owed?

[Carl]

See if this will clarify things for you. Also, you can check the status of your return at www.irs.gov.refunds If it doesn't show there, you probably never e-filed it.

DID I FILE MY RETURN?

Some clarification is needed here. Only you can e-file your tax return. Nobody else can do it for you. You are the one who has to click that "TRANSMIT MY RETURNS NOW" button. When you have transmitted your return to the IRS, you will receive two e-mails. You will receive physically separate e-mails for a state return, if a state return is filed, for a total of four e-mails. Two from federal, and two from the state.

The first e-mail informs you that you have successfully TRANSMITTED your return to the IRS. This e-mail usually arrives in 10-15 minutes. If you don't have that e-mail, then you did not finish the process.

 The second email informs you if your transmitted return was accepted, or rejected by the IRS. If rejected, follow the link in the e-mail to deal with the rejection issue. This second e-mail can take as long as 48 hours before you receive it. Once your return is accepted, DO NOT lose that e-mail. It's the only solid proof you have, that the IRS accepted your e-filed return. Without it, should the IRS claim you did not file a return, you lose the argument. If it's not in writing, it did not occur.

Once you have that e-mail indicated the IRS has ACCEPTED your return, TurboTax has fulfilled the obligation you paid them for, and TurboTax is no longer in this equation anymore.

Just because the IRS has accepted your e-filed return, does not mean they agree with it. It can take 4 weeks or longer for them to process it. To follow the processing, you can do that at https://www.irs.gov/refunds  It will take 48-72 hours after the IRS has accepted your e-filed return, before it will show up on that IRS website.

REASONS YOU MAY NOT GET THE CONFIRMATION E-MAILS

• You did not click the TRANSMIT MY RETURNS NOW button and/or did not *F*I*N*I*S*H* working through the program after you did click it.

• The e-mail address you provided is wrong

• The email was moved to your junk, trash or spam folder by your email program, or depending on how things are set up on your end, the email was deleted entirely.

• Yourr e-mail provider marked the e-mail as spam and moved it to your *ONLINE* junk, trash or spam folder, or just deleted the email entirely with no notification to you. That’s your provider’s fault. Not yours or TurboTax’s fault.

• You deleted the email without reading it, mistaking it for spam from TurboTax.