Is there a way to confirm whether the IRS received a 2019 tax filing via mail? There's errors with someone trying to eFile for 2020, despite mail confirmation for 2019.

[dpespi]

2019 taxes were mailed to IRS three times (delivery confirmations available), but in trying to eFile for 2020, there's an error saying IRS never received it.  Advice?

[Fred Coale]

If the IRS sent you a refund check or they cashed your check for payment, you have a confirmation.  If you filed with Turbotax in 2019, the program will have timestamped when the return was accepted (e-file), but I don't think it can check the status of a mailed return. 

Of course, a call to the IRS (ugh!) could answer the question, but if the return was done manually and they say they don't have it, the IRS will need to tell you how to refile.  

[SweetieJean]

Sorry, no, and the fact that you mailed it 3 times complicates things.  Try using 0 (zero) for the 2019 AGI when efiling 2020.  Per the IRS:

COVID-19 Mail Processing Delays

It’s taking us longer to process mailed documents including:

• Paper tax returns, and
• All tax return related correspondence.

We are processing all mail in the order we received it.

Do not file a second tax return or call the IRS.

Refunds | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)

Also see:

IRS Backlog: 2.4 Million 2019 Tax Returns Still In Pipeline (forbes.com)

[dpespi]

Thank you so much for this swift reply! I think we were nervous to put "0" in fear that it might raise a red flag that it was indicating 2019 wasn't filed.  But this advice is helpful that IRS acknowledges they are behind, so a 0 could also indicate they haven't been processed yet (hopefully!).  

[dpespi]

Thank you for the first reply and advice! We tried calling IRS but the number is completely automated, hard to talk to a person despite being on hold for hours.  Will take advice of SweetieJean for now and put 0 for AGI for 2019, while working on trying to get in touch with someone at the IRS (which will probably not be until after this year's deadline) for instructions on resending if needed.  Thank you again!