I didn't efile my federal tax return, why does it appear on my account as "Accepted"?

[john699]

I mailed in the federal tax return and applied for my wife's ITIN in April. She just received her ITIN after 4 months sharp. So we proceeded to e-file the state return on TurboTax and I remember choosing only the State tax return to e-file, but for whatever reason, on my homepage, it shows that both the federal and state tax returns are accepted and the filing date is August 20th. This would mean I had filed my state tax return twice. If this was the case, would I be in any trouble? Is there any way I can check to see which returns were submitted on my account?

[Mike9241]

it is not possible to e-file a state return unless the Federal is also e-filed at the same time or earlier. could you have failed to select mail for the Federal return? had you selected mail for Federal you wouldn't be able to e-file state.     

if you successfully e-filed the state you would have gotten an e-mail that said the state was accepted. did you get such an e-mail?   if not, then it's almost a certainty they don't have it. call them to check.

all Turbotax could tell you was whether your returns were e-filed. it has no way of knowing if either or both were mailed. the IRS might be able to tell you if you filed two returns but only if both were entered into its system. with major delays in processing the IRS might only know about one return.     

I wouldn't worry about filing two federal returns but I would worry that no state return was filed if you did not get a state acceptance letter.

[VolvoGirl]

As said above, it is not possible to efile state unless federal was first efiled and Accepted.   So federal was efiled.

You should double can check your efile status here     

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/efile-status-lookup/   

When you efile you get back 2 emails.  The first email only confirms the transmission.  The second email says if the IRS (or state) Accepted or Rejected your efile.  Check back through your emails and spam or junk folders.

If you mailed federal and also efiled it there will be 2 returns in the IRS which will delay any refund.