I had almost this exact situation last year! My license had expired during COVID and I didn't even realize it when I filed. I was also counting on a refund advance from H&R Block that I thought I might lose access to. What ended up happening was my return was accepted normally - no questions about the license. When I called about the advance issue, they actually had a separate system for handling the advances that wasn't directly tied to the return submission. I explained my situation, gave them my application number from the original approval email, and they were able to reactivate it for me. Took about 35 minutes on the phone but they sorted it out. The advance hit my account about 2 days later, and then my actual refund came about 3 weeks after that.

This is really helpful information from everyone! I'm dealing with something similar - I accidentally put the wrong expiration year on my license info when filing through FreeTaxUSA. Reading through all these responses, it sounds like the IRS won't reject my return for this mistake, which is a relief. @Javier Cruz - thanks for starting this thread, it's exactly what I needed to see. The consensus seems to be that DL expiration dates aren't part of their automated verification system. @Chloe Robinson - your experience with H&R Block gives me hope! I'm in a similar boat with a refund advance that I'm worried about losing access to. Going to try calling their dedicated tax support line like @Omar Hassan suggested rather than going through general customer service. Has anyone here actually had their return accepted with a completely expired license (like expired over a year ago)? Just want to make sure there's not some threshold where it does become an issue.

If it was just one day of training and you never got paid, are you sure you were actually added to their payroll system? Sounds like they might have had you fill out paperwork but never processed it before closing. If that's the case, technically no income was paid to you, so there wouldn't be a W2.

If you filled out all the hiring paperwork but never received any payment, there's a good chance you were never actually entered into their payroll system. Many employers don't process new hires into payroll until after their first day or week of work. Since you mentioned you never got paid for that training day, the employer likely never reported any wages to the IRS under your SSN. This means there wouldn't be a W2 to find because no taxable income was actually paid out. However, if you want to be absolutely certain, I'd recommend checking your Social Security earnings record at ssa.gov once the year's data is updated (usually by fall). This will show all wages reported by employers. If nothing shows up for that IHOP location, you can be confident there's no missing W2 to worry about. The bottom line: if no wages were paid, there's no taxable income to report, and you shouldn't stress about a missing W2 that probably doesn't exist.

Has anyone had the IRS actually question or care about which business code you use for something like transcription? I've been filing with various side hustles for years and just guessing at these codes. Never heard anything back about it.

I can relate to this frustration! For reality TV transcription work, I'd recommend going with code 519100 "Other Information Services" as Emma suggested. The key thing to remember is that you're providing information services to the production company - converting audio content into usable text data for their editors. I've done similar work for podcasts and online content creators, and this code has worked well for me. The IRS really isn't looking to nitpick these codes as long as you're in the right ballpark. Your transcription work is essentially creating information products that support media production, which fits perfectly under 519100. Don't overthink it - just pick one that reasonably describes what you do and move on with finishing your taxes. You're almost there!

Has anyone here dealt with the timeline for getting a refund on a paper return for a prior year? I had to mail in my 2020 return last year and I'm still waiting for my refund. Just wondering what OP should expect if they're mailing a 2021 return now.

I went through something very similar with my 2020 return! The key thing to remember is that when a return gets rejected, it's like it never existed in the IRS system at all. So you're not amending anything - you're filing your original return for the first time. Since your kids already amended their returns to show they're your dependents, your return should go through without issues now. Just make sure to: 1. Print and mail your complete 2021 return (don't try to e-file a prior year) 2. Include a simple cover letter explaining the dependent conflict was resolved 3. Sign and date everything 4. Send it certified mail for tracking The good news is you have until April 15, 2025 to claim your 2021 refund, so you're still well within the deadline. Paper returns are slow (expect 4-6 months for processing), but you should eventually get your refund plus any interest that's owed. One tip: if you need to check on the status after a few months, calling the IRS directly is usually a nightmare. The callback services mentioned in other comments here actually work pretty well for getting through to a real person.

I was SO FRUSTRATED with this exact same issue last tax season! After weeks of checking multiple times daily, I finally figured out that my transcript always updated on Thursday nights/Friday mornings. Once I identified my cycle code (it was 20231705), I realized I was on a weekly processing schedule. From that point on, I only checked on Friday mornings and saved myself tons of anxiety. My refund showed up exactly when predicted by the cycle pattern!

As someone who's been through this exact situation as a 1099 contractor, I can confirm that transcripts typically update overnight during scheduled batch processing windows. However, @Noah Torres makes an interesting point about midday updates - I've heard these can happen during what the IRS calls "emergency processing" situations or when there are system catch-ups after maintenance windows. For your quarterly payment planning, I'd recommend focusing on your cycle code (usually found on your account transcript) which will give you a more predictable timeline than obsessive checking. The IRS processes returns continuously, but transcript visibility follows their database refresh schedule, which is why most of us see changes in the morning after overnight updates.