There's a little nuance to that after speaking with 2 reps this morning.
1) This "notice" will get likely dropped for a large portion of people. There's an automated review that takes place. If something is found that suggests a potential identity theft issue, a human then reviews it. That initial 'flagging' is pushing out notifications like this one to taxpayers (according to the rep I spoke to, this is new to the Where's My Refund page and is causing lots of confusion. Additionally, this part of the process isn't new and isn't a glitch - it's just the fact the IRS is letting the taxpayer know it's in review that is causing confusion).
2) If the human determines that there's really no issue, the return is processed normally. If they determine that something isn't right - that drives the letter. But sadly, there's no way to tell if you're one of those people until after your 21 day period and you get a letter.
I talked to a IRS agent a few mins ago. She said that this process isn't necessarily new - but its a new "feature" on the website to update taxpayers. She says most of her calls the last 2-3 weeks have been this very thing.
She says the initial review is an automated one. If anything looks different from previous years (or "off") then its flagged. A human then reviews the return. If that human determines something looks strange, they release the letter to the taxpayer. If not, it's processed normally.
Again, that process is done every year, but it's not normally shown the way it is being shown to us this year (which is causing all sorts of confusion). It's not an error, per se.
She told me just to check regularly, but to allow for your 21 day period. Also, check your profile on IRS website to see if any letters have been sent (those wouldn't show until your 21 day period is up).
