For all the people
impatiently waiting
on tax refunds.

A grapevine for taxpayers,
by taxpayers.

Interact with people who have experiences or questions just like you.

All of your tax refund questions, answered.
What Other People Are Saying
49,352 comments

Where’s My Refund?

You have questions, we have answers.

key tax return and refund dates

When can you file your taxes?

You can submit your tax return before the IRS begins processing as early as the first week of the year with many tax preparation providers. You don’t need to wait until the IRS begins accepting tax returns but you must have the proper forms and paperwork. Some forms are not available until mid January. Tax returns filed before the IRS officially opens sit in a “queue” and are held until the IRS officially begins accepting tax returns.

Your tax return may be selected in a test batch. If you e-file early and it sits in queue, your return may be sent to the IRS early. This can result in early direct deposits depending on the payment provider you select. Our cycle chart will update with key dates including test batch dates.

When does the IRS accept tax returns?

The IRS usually opens around the third week of January each year. They announce the opening date early in January.

The IRS will begin accepting tax returns in 2025 on January 27th.

When is the IRS test batch?

If you file your tax return early, it may be sent to the IRS in a test batch before the IRS has officially opened for the year. It is usually a week before the date the IRS begins accepting tax returns. This has resulted in refunds in the past that can be posted by direct deposit as early as the day after tax season opens.

When will I get my tax refund?

Early filers whose returns are accepted in a test batch can anticipate a tax refund as early as the day after the IRS opens the January filing season if your return was in the test batch. The day that the IRS deposits refunds varies for regular returns but we notice trends based on the method you chose to file and select to direct deposit. You can use our tax refund calendar or refund cycle chart to help find out when you will get your tax refund.

Where is the IRS refund cycle chart?

The official tax refund cycle chart published by the IRS has been eliminated and replaced with IRS FAQ. Refund cycle charts are now published by independent websites and vary slightly.

A good reference to use is the When To Expect My Refund cycle chart that is published early each year by the College Investor.

tax refund grapevine

This is a user-to-user community of taxpayers. Share experiences and ask questions below in our Live Discussion. We have learned more about tax refunds than we ever wanted to know.

IRS Update Cycle

Use the IRS Update Cycle chart to find the days and times the WMR and transcript update.

Transcripts

This is what your IRS transcript can tell you about your tax refund.

Transaction Codes

Lookup the codes that you see on your tax return transcript and what they mean.

Daily vs. Weekly

Find out if you have a daily or weekly account with the IRS and what it means.

When are Updates?

The IRS has regular mass update cycles.

WHEN DOES WHERES MY REFUND (WMR) UPDATE?

Where’s My Refund can update any day of the week. But there are mass updates on Wednesday and Saturday when a lot of people see an update. Use our calendar to find out what day you can expect to see updates on Where’s My Refund.

WHEN DO transcripts update?

Transcripts can update any day of the week. But there are mass updates on Tuesday and Friday. Use our calendar to find out what day you can expect to see an update on your transcript.

talk to a human

It is often hard to reach someone at the IRS and you might want to talk to a person. It is hard to reach some tax preparation companies too. Use our guide to talk to a human at the IRS.

TAX TOPIC 152

Tax Topic 152 is the most common status when you check the status of your tax refund. It is nothing to worry about.

transcript codes

Transaction Codes (TC) sometimes called transcript codes consist of three digits and may appear on your IRS account transcript. Decipher the codes on your IRS transcripts.

reference codes

Most times the Wherer’s My Refund tool (WMR) will show Tax Topic 152. Other times you may see various error codes. These are called Reference Codes on the WMR.

Join the Conversation

What Others Are Saying

  1. Catfish61

    good morning what does a 105 code mean with a 20230905 explanation of transaction with a date of 03/20/2023

    Reply
  2. Cantcatchabreak

    @Sheila La: ok I was just reading what code 840 means and you are
    Correct it is a manual refund. Many people don’t get this code. It means you get a check or DD. But all of the past comments I read shows the people didn’t know when they would receive the refund. So hopefully you receive something soon. I’m hoping to receive my check by Tuesday since I had a mail date of Friday March 10. Hoping they mailed it out before Friday

    Reply
  3. Shanshan

    @theuniversehatesme: You might have to verify over the phone. I did mine online first in thought i was done but then when I called they told me my id verification didn’t go in online. So I had to call them in do it over the phone to lift the hold. In I finally updated yesterday on transcript

    Reply
    1
  4. NVDIV

    @Mlronq: as soon as 12am eastern hit it went into that 11am message. I tried but no luck

    Reply
  5. Mlronq

    @teedee44
    What do you mean?

    Reply
  6. TeeDee44

    So I filed opening day 1/23. And it’s looking like I’m going to be seeing how “my return has been received and is being processed” until waaaay after the end of tax season. April 15th is just now. Wtf IRS?!?

    Reply
  7. Mlronq

    @NVDIV
    the only update I saw was on Friday my as of date changed from 3/13 to 3/27. Not sure what it means but hopefully it’s back in processing I’m so tired of waiting.

    Reply
    1
  8. Mlronq

    @NVDIV
    Lmaooo honestly wouldn’t put it past em these days lol
    It’s been nothing but delays and unanswered questions this year. I think I’ve had a migraine since January lol I doubt we’d see any updates today anyway. Did you get a chance to check them before the site went down?

    Reply
    1
  9. NVDIV

    @Mlronq: nevermind I’m half asleep lol forgive me

    Reply
  10. NVDIV

    @Mlronq: someone must have told them after I posted that lol. It said 11pm for me

    Reply
  11. Mlronq

    Service Outage: March 12

    This service will be unavailable from about 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time on March 12, for planned maintenance. Thank you for your patience.

    This is what the tax records page says. Key word “about” lol
    But the account login page just says maintenance until 5pm.

    Reply
  12. NVDIV

    Now its all coming together.. all these 570s are probably due to the IRS not knowing anything about numbers.. As of 12am they seem to not know anything about telling time either.. The transcripts pages says Maintenance from 11am to 5pm eastern for March 12th but its only 5:41am.. What in the world. Its sad we have people who cant tell time handling our money.

    Reply
  13. Mlronq

    They will show N/A until they’re put into the master file to begin processing

    Reply
  14. theuniversehatesme
    • Tax Preparer:
      Turbo Tax
    • Date Filed:
      Jan-21
    • Fees:
      From Refund
    • Bank:
      Credit Union
    • Bars:
      What Bars?
    • Date Accepted:
      Jan-23
    • Transcript:
      Blank
    • Cycle Code:
      05
    • Cycle:
      Weekly
    • 5071C LETTER
    • I Got My Refund!

    Still no update, transcripts N/A.
    WMR says, “still being processed.”
    Completed 5071C verification online over 2 weeks ago.

    I’m losing my mind 😭

    Reply
  15. BBkansas24
    • Tax Preparer:
      Turbo Tax
    • Date Filed:
      Feb-22
    • Fees:
      From Refund
    • Bank:
      City national bank and trust
    • Bars:
      1st Bar
    • Date Accepted:
      Feb-26
    • Transcript:
      Online
    • Cycle Code:
      20231105
    • Cycle:
      Weekly
    • As of:
      Apr-3
    • I Got My Refund!

    I’m a weekly and I thought I’d update again today

    Last Friday I was about to view my bottom 2 transcripts and open them.
    No wmr movement at all. Hasn’t been 21 days yet.

    Reply
    1
  16. Sheila La

    @Cantcatchabreak: no it’s code 840 and it says refund issued and the date is 03/07 it updated yesterday apparently 840 is a manual refund and they send a check but I’m trying to find out if there’s going to be another code that says when it is actually mailed because it says refund issued but it doesn’t say check mailed or anything like that .

    Reply
  17. Shanshan

    @Cantcatchabreak: I hope you get it soon. Thank you

    Reply
    1
  18. Cantcatchabreak

    @Shanshan: yes I is verified 2/23 and check refund date was yesterday March 10th. WMR updated with all 3 bars saying refund was mailed March 10th. So hopefully I have it by Tuesday

    Reply
  19. Cantcatchabreak

    @Sheila La: did you mean refund code 846 with a refund date of March 17th? If so your wmr will update the Saturday of March 18th saying refund has been mailed. Mines updated this morning with refund mailed since I had a refund date of March 10th.

    Reply
  20. Mlronq

    They will show N/A until they’re put into the master file to begin processing.

    Reply
  21. Pstuart4

    @pressed like a panini: mine has zeros I think that means they’re working on return but have not entered info in master file yet

    Reply
    1
  22. TPerry

    @pressed like a panini: a mess! I looked on the chart that’s in this group and was hoping it would be a ddd for next week, but hopefully we’ll get an update next week.

    Reply
    1
  23. Sheila La

    Question

    Anyone know about how it works my transcript updated yesterday with code 840 and it says refund issued and there’s a date that says March 7, 2023 my as of date change from March 6 to March 27 so I’m not sure if that means I’m not getting a check till after that anyone have experience with us also the fact that it shows the code 840 with refund issued does that mean it’s already been sent? Will another code populate with something saying that the checks been printed or that the check has been mailed or is it just a waiting game from here no more codes should come up. Any advice would be greatly appreciate it. I’m just trying to figure out when to expect my refund in the mail , I filed on February 6 and was supposed to get direct deposit, but for some reason they pulled it for a manual refund is from what I was told

    Reply
  24. pressed like a panini

    @TPerry: yeah we are in the exact same boat. It’s so frustrating

    Reply
    1
  25. Reaper117

    Okay still I have not received my income tax return still since last year this time I messed up originally on my last digit of my account number which it states online too that you know if it’s not correct it’ll just get charged back and be sent back to IRS but instead of going to NetSpend it went to Santa Barbara tax product group in return I didn’t get my return even though IRS said it was sent I had them doing money trace in between the money trace I ended up finding it before they did where it was at and there’s a Santa Barbara tax product group they said they sent me the check in the mail and never got it it didn’t die or nothing so it’s not like I would have not seen it and then I hadn’t sent me another one and they said they sent it to me and after I didn’t get the second one they also stated that oh and 15 weeks more that it’ll get into the IRS and if an IRS it’ll get sent to me well it’s been at least 20 weeks now and nobody’s got my money and I can’t even call tax credit group back because every time I try to put my social security number in they just hang up the phone on me before the computer lets me put the digits in so what is going on here and for the most part this is my money and I’ve been frauded you know and what can I do and how can I do it this 1500 that I really needed that that time and they still do now as for like the money trace paper I got from the IRS it shows that it was sent to the Green Dot corporation to tsbtvg and the most part that’s all I can say but they’re telling you something I already knew before they did but now it’s of year and two months now that I have not received my money

    Reply
  26. Shanshan

    Has anybody that had to do the ID verification been sent their check yet if so how long did it take?

    Reply
  27. TPerry

    @pressed like a panini: My transcripts look different than previous years. I have two sections that say 2022, and two sections that say N/A. The two that are showing 2022 say “no return filed” or something like that. I have never seen that before. I was accepted on 3/2. I guess I will see what happens next week.

    Reply
    1
  28. pressed like a panini

    Does anyone know what it means when our acct. transcripts says no tax return filed under where it should have the cycle/ code of explanation. Smh what is happening this year

    Reply
  29. Shanshan

    @Mlronq: Mine finally did.

    Reply
    1
  30. Mlronq

    @Ms.Vegas
    What do your transcripts say?

    Reply
  31. Ms. Vegas

    I checked wmr this morning. Got a delay message. Never had this before. What do I do next?

    Reply
  32. Meme

    As of date changed back from 3/20/23 to 3/6/23 this morning on transcript. Anyone had familiar situation? And what does this mean?

    Reply
  33. Mlronq

    Anyone’s WMR updated today?
    Mine didn’t :(
    Not sure why I keep checking lol only to drive myself crazy when I know it’s not going to update.

    Reply
    2
  34. MOE

    @Mlronq: Thank you

    Reply
    1
  35. Mlronq

    @MOE
    go to irs.gov/reply
    And you can upload documents!

    Reply
  36. MOE

    @Mlronq: how do u upload w2 to them

    Reply
  37. Mlronq

    @MOE
    nope still waiting on a letter. I was told by a representative on the phone that the letter was about income verification and I’d have to resubmit my w2 so I uploaded it online but nothing changed and when I called again I was told that I need to wait until I receive the letter and if I still don’t see any changes to call again. It’s been such a headache.

    Reply
    1
  38. MOE

    @Mlronq: Mine is just like yours did u get a letter I didn’t yet

    Reply
  39. Mlronq

    @570goAway
    I’m in the same boat, dates and codes the same as yours…hope we get answers soon. I’ll keep updating if I get any new information!

    Reply
    2
  40. Chop

    Hi good morning
    I have a 810 freeze code on my transcript called and was told to wait until April 7th. My refund is in the errors resolution department Anyone had this issue before

    Reply