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Explain it like I’m 5…
Tax returns are processed by the IRS in cycles based on the “type” of account they have. For many people, transactions can be processed any day of the week. But for some people the IRS only processes and posts to the IRS master file (IMF) once per week. This is the difference between a daily and weekly account. Below are the most asked questions about the account types including how to tell if your account is daily or weekly and when you can expect updates.
"IMF processing will be daily except on weekends. Some transaction post to the IMF on a daily basis as opposed to during the weekly cycle." Reference IRS Manual IMF Daily Processing 3.30.123.4.9
Difference between IRS account types
Your IRS Account is identified as either being updated weekly or daily. Cycle codes ending in 01, 02, 03, 04 are daily accounts. Cycle codes ending in 05 are typically weekly accounts, but in some cases, they may be daily.
Look at the last 2 digits of your Cycle Code. If it ends in 01, 02, 03, 04 transactions post to our IMF account daily except weekends. If it ends in 05, you could be weekly or daily. For weekly accounts, transactions are posted to the IMF account only once weekly.
It doesn’t really. However, people use it to check what day they should expect updates on IRS Transcripts or the IRS “Where’s My Refund” (WMR) tool.
Changes to IRS Transcripts and WMR can occur any day of the week.
Changes to IRS Transcripts can be viewed on Friday and updates to WMR occur on Saturdays.
If WMR only updates on Saturdays with a direct deposit date for the following Wednesday, then there is a good chance you are a Weekly Account. If changes to WMR and direct deposit dates occur on other days each year, then you may be a Daily Account.
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