Transaction Code 570 and Delayed Tax Refunds

transaction code 570

Transaction Code 570 Usually, around two weeks into tax season, we notice a surge of questions about the timing of refunds and IRS Transaction Code 570 that shows up on an IRS account transcript. Sometimes it feels like the tax season is progressing more slowly than previous years. Taxpayers see others getting updates through the … Read more

No Hold Bank (NHB) or Traditional Financial Institution (TFI)

No Hold Bank (NHB) Some banks may offer the option for early direct deposits, allowing customers to receive their paychecks or government benefits a day or two before they anticipate a deposit. We call these No Hold Banks (NHB). However, it’s important to note that early direct deposit policies can vary by bank and may … Read more

Improved Where’s My Refund Messages

“Where’s My Refund?” is an online tool provided by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It lets taxpayers check the status of their federal tax refund. This IRS provides this tool in its efforts to offer taxpayers real-time information about the processing of their tax refunds. Where’s My Refund messages have often been vague. Changes are … Read more

What is a Tax Advocate for the IRS and what do they do?

A Tax Advocate is “your voice at the IRS” A Tax Advocate might help your stalled tax refund. The bureaucracy surrounding the tax code and Internal Revenue Service can turn into a nightmare to navigate. The IRS has done a fairly decent job of making many of the basic processes that are important to the taxpayer … Read more

IRS Resequenced Delay for Tax Refund

Your tax refund might be delayed for being resequenced. The Where’s My Refund (WMR) tool might tell you that “Your tax return is still being processed. A refund date will be provided when available.” Resequenced circumstances happen behind the scenes while your tax return is being processed and can sometimes cause a delay of your … Read more

Resequenced or Unpostable Tax Return

Tax refunds can be delayed for being resequenced or unpostable. Where’s My Refund (WMR) tool on irs.gov might tell you that “Your tax return is still being processed. A refund date will be provided when available.” Resequenced or unpostable circumstances happen behind the scenes while your tax return is being processed. Resequenced Transactions that post … Read more

IRS Unpostable Delay for Tax Refund

Unpostable Overview If your tax refund is delayed there may be a problem with a transaction that is unpostable in the IRS Master File system while your tax return is still being processed. Each transaction on your account must pass a series of validity checks prior to posting to the system. Your tax return could … Read more

Daily Account vs. Weekly Account

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 … Read more

Transaction Codes on IRS Account Transcript

Transaction Code Overview Transaction Codes (TC) sometimes called transcript codes consist of three digits and appear on your IRS account transcript. A transaction code is used to identify when an action posted to your tax account Master File while your tax return is being processed. They help to show a history of actions taken by … Read more

IRS Transcripts

irs transcripts

IRS transcripts are a valuable source of information about your tax account. They can sometimes be confusing and do not always present the full picture about a taxpayer’s account activity. What is an IRS transcript? IRS transcripts provide information about your tax account, your tax returns, wage and income and if you filed a tax … Read more

Tax Topic 152

Tax Topic 152

The Truth About Topic 152 Tax Topics are displayed when people check Where’s My Refund on the IRS website. The most common is Tax Topic 152. These tax topics are a way that the IRS communicates with taxpayers about the status of their tax refund. Rest assured, Tax Topic 152 is not something to be … Read more

PATH Act delays some tax refunds and when the PATH Act lifts

The PATH Act will delay your tax refund until after February 15th if you claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and/or the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) on your tax return. The PATH Act lifts on February 16th each year. It does not apply to people who only claimed the Child Tax Credit (CTC) … Read more

2024 IRS Transcript with 846 Refund Issued code

2024 IRS Transcript with 846 Requesting your IRS Transcript online at irs.gov is the fastest way to get a transcript. Request an account transcript to look at the codes. Read more: How to check and read your IRS transcript. Join the Live Discussion 2024 IRS Transcript with 846 – Cycle Code 20240402 2023 IRS Transcript … Read more

IRS Get Transcript Service

IRS Transcript Service There are three ways to get an IRS transcript. You can use the online, phone or mail request. You can order copies of tax records for past tax returns, account information, wage and income statements and verification of non-filing letters. The easiest and fastest way to get a transcript is to access … Read more

IRS Letter 6419 and IRS Letter 6475

IRS letter 6419 and 6475

To make sure you file an accurate tax return and avoid IRS delays you should wait for these letters. Alternatively, the amounts can be found on the CTC Update Portal on IRS.gov. The IRS started sending the letters to people who received the advance child tax credit payments and third Economic Impact Payments (EIP). IRS … Read more

IRS Cycle Code and What Posting Cycles Date Mean

UPDATED for 2024 By using the table below, you can translate your IRS cycle code into a calendar date that tells you when your tax return posted to the IRS master file. The IRS cycle code can be found on your account transcript displayed as an eight digit sequence of numbers such as 20240405.  The … Read more

4 Reasons to explain what is slowing down tax refunds

These are four reasons you could still be waiting on a tax refund. An example of a complicated return with stimulus credit (#4) is detailed below. Backlog of Tax Returns The IRS is still processing 20 million+ tax returns that were left in the dust when the IRS shutdown the agency in under 2 weeks … Read more

IRS 4464C Letters and CP05 Notices make taxpayers confused.

4464C CP05

Did you receive a 4464C Letter or CP05 Notice from the IRS? A lot of taxpayers are waiting on their tax refund. Instead of a direct deposit, they are stuck looking at the message “…still processing…” on the IRS Where’s My Refund tool after 21 days has passed since they filed their return. Some have … Read more

IRS Wage Verification could be causing Tax Refund Delays

If the IRS fraud detection filters triggered a review of your tax return for income and wage verification, it could be a hold up of your refund. So pull out your W2s and 1099s, your tax return could go old school. Why? IRS wage verification. It seems people might need evidence to prove that their … Read more

Tax Refund Delays for Millions of People

Tax Refund Delay in 2018

Millions of taxpayers who expect a tax refund can also expect tax refund delays. Although the IRS claims they issue 9 out of 10 refunds within 21 days, that still leaves a lot of people who do not get their refund in 21 days.  According to the IRS, they expect to process nearly 155 million … Read more

IRS Reference Code Numbers

irs reference numbers

What do the IRS Reference Numbers Mean? The below codes are IRS reference numbers that you might see when you check the status of your tax refund on Where’s My Refund? These are different than transaction codes on and Account Transcript. If you check the status of your tax refund and see a reference code, you should … Read more

Direct Deposit and Prepaid Cards for Tax Refunds

prepaid cards for tax refunds

Direct Deposit into a traditional checking account is the most popular way to receive your tax refund.  According to the IRS, “8 out of 10 people use e-file and direct deposit to get their tax refund.” There are also several other ways you can choose to have your tax refund sent. Good old Tax Topic 152 will remind … Read more

2018 Tax Season – Same spooky PATH, same destination.

As 2017 creeps to the end, some people are coming into a scary reality – their cash flow is ghastly and the 2018 tax season is nearly three months away. The candy tax you charge your kids on Halloween might yield Twix and Snickers.  But it doesn’t curb your craving for something better, a tax … Read more

Tax Refund Schedule for IRS e-file and direct deposit dates

2018 Tax Refund Schedule

The tax refund schedule for 2018 with Direct Deposit dates shown below are based on filing and transmitting as early as January 2, 2018. The IRS no longer publishes these dates and now notifies tax payers that most refunds will be issued within 21 days of your return being accepted.  This general estimate doesn’t satisfy everyone … Read more

Tax Refund Delay Extravaganza Kicks off the Tax Season

Tax Refund Delay

Most people already know about tax refund delays when you claim the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit. This isn’t because the IRS just feels like holding your money for fun. The IRS introduced us to this back at the end of 2015 but some are just finding out about it now. … Read more

Some Tax Refunds Delayed when you File Early

Tax Refunds Delayed

EITC and ACTC Tax Refunds Delayed Ready and waiting for that tax refund? Of course you are! Don’t get excited yet. Some tax refunds can be delayed when you file early in the year if you claim certain tax credits. Unfortunately, some taxpayers are going to have to wait a little while longer for their … Read more

This is what it means when WMR status bar disappears.

irs WMR refund status

Nothing. Most times when your status bar on the Where’s My Refund tool appears at 1 of 3 stages.  Return Received, Return Accepted, Return Processed and how long it will take is found on the irs.gov site and tools on TurboTax, H&R Block along with other tax preparer site.  But what happens when you don’t have any … Read more

Waiting for Correct 1095a

But what if you already filed your tax return with a 1095a that is wrong? Will your refund be cancelled while you are waiting for correct 1095a Form? Today, Healthcare.gov announced that as many as 800,000 taxpayers who signed up for insurance through the federal marketplace will be contacted because they filed using an incorrect form.  They … Read more

State Tax Refunds Cancelled

Turbo Tax Stops Transmitting State Tax Returns – Refunds Cancelled Here is the latest tax news about State Tax Refunds Cancelled: Turbo Tax tax software has stopped transmitting state income tax returns due to a problem with over 16,000 fraudulent returns in 18 states being transmitted using their software according to this article on Forbes. So starting yesterday … Read more

Tax Refund Offset – Tax Topic 203

offsetDo you have a tax refund offset or Tax Topic 203 appearing when you check the WMR?

Topic 203 – Refund Offsets for Unpaid Child Support, Certain Federal and State Debts, and Unemployment Compensation Debts

Recently the topic of a tax refund offset came up in our forum.  There seems to be a lot of questions about what the IRS can take from a tax refund, and how it all works.  So, after doing a little research for some answers, here’s what we’ve come up with so far. First, the department that actually handles the offsets is Financial Management Services (FMS).

FMS is responsible for collecting delinquent debts and forwarding them to the agency to which they are owed. In most cases, FMS will send a letter prior to the offset to notify you that your refund is in danger of being offset. The letter includes both the name and Social Security number of the taxpayer for which the refund is being offset, as well as the organization to which the offset is being forwarded and the amount of the offset. If you do not receive the letter, however, call FMS to inquire as to the status of your income tax.

The phone number you should use to find out if you have an offset is: 800-304-3107.  I called this number myself just to see how it works.  Basically it will ask you for your social security number and run a search to see if there are any debts or offsets against you.  The message also states that the hotline is updated daily. If you’d like more information on the FMS, this is the link that was used for the above information: How to Check Your Income Tax Offset Refund Amount.

So, now that we have a better understand of who collects any offsets, you may be wondering what exactly could be taken from your tax refund.  The following list of was found here:

What Debts Can Be Taken From Your Federal Taxes?

Federal Debts The IRS pays itself first, so federal tax debts take precedence over other types of debts when it comes to offsetting your tax refund. If you failed to pay taxes due in previous years or you owe money to the IRS for any reason, the agency will partially or fully offset your refund to collect these funds.

Non-tax Federal Debts If you are up-to-date on your federal taxes, but you owe money to any other federal agency, the IRS can take money from your tax refund to satisfy these debts. Federal agency non-tax debts include past due or defaulted student loan payments, payments on HUD loans and any fines, penalties or fees due to any federal department. If you’ve accepted overpayments or fraudulent payments on Social Security or disability benefits or other federal insurance programs, these debts may also cause your refund amount to be reduced.

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IRS Announces 2014 Tax Filing Delay and Dates

tax refund season

IRS delay announcement for next year. IRS could begin ACCEPTING returns on January 28, 2014, but as late as February 4, 2014. The original start date of 2014 tax filing season was Jan. 21 —but now a one- to two-week delay, apparently because of government shut down and push back of timeline to test test … Read more

idverify.irs.gov Which Result?

This is either a tax question or an HTML question. After an unusually long one-month wait for a refund, I get a letter from the IRS asking I go to a site of theirs: idverify.irs.gov The site asked a few multiple-choice questions to verify my identity, and I believe I answered all correctly. (One, “which … Read more

Tax Refund Delays on the Horizon for 2014 Filing Season

Are IRS and e-file technology glitches the trend? Yes it is only mid August, and I am beginning to think about 2014 tax season.  What have we learned from the prior tax refund delays?  In 2012, after many people experienced major refund delays caused by the mess we saw with the IRS newly implemented software … Read more

8 weeks after 4883C, tax return is still unpostable.

This is a scenario that happened to a taxpayer after they verified their identity and then their return was unpostable. I filled my tax return 98 days ago. TurboTax Transmitted 96 days ago. IRS finally accepted my tax return after I received a 4883C letter for identify verification 81 days ago. The Where’s My Refund … Read more

Unpostable IRS Error

An unpostable transaction happens when your return is unable to be posted to the master file. It can happen for many reasons. It usually takes about 6-8 weeks to close the open unpostable according the IRS Unpostable section of the Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) 21.5.5 Unpostables. After something is identified as unpostable an error resolution … Read more

Where is the IRS Refund Cycle Chart?

irs refund cycle chart

The refund cycle chart published by the IRS in the past has been eliminated and replaced with general information on their website about timing and where you can use the check Where’s My Refund tool. We have said goodbye to the former refund cycle chart in replacement of a standard “21 days” response from the … Read more

WHAT IS THE LINGO “HDD” VS. A “DD”?

These terms are thrown around when discussing the dates provided by the WMR. HDD was coined as “hard direct deposit” because the language from WMR says something about “your refund will be deposited on XX” and trends tell us that this is usually a firm (hard) date that doesn’t hange and pretty accurate. A DD … Read more