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Has anyone received their trace number faster by calling them directly instead of waiting? I've heard some people say calling makes no difference while others claim it speeds things up.
Based on everyone's experiences here, it sounds like Santa Barbara TPG is definitely running behind their normal processing times. I'm in a similar situation - got funded last Tuesday with a 02/27 DDD and still waiting for my trace number. What's frustrating is the lack of transparency from TPG about these delays. They should be proactively communicating with customers about extended processing times instead of leaving everyone in the dark. I've been checking my bank account obsessively, which isn't helping my stress levels. For those mentioning calling - I tried their customer service line yesterday and after a 2-hour wait, they basically just confirmed what we already know: they're backed up and processing in batches. The rep couldn't give me a specific timeframe for my trace number. At this point, I'm just planning for the worst-case scenario timeline mentioned here (3-5 business days) and hoping for the best. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it's reassuring to know this is a widespread issue and not something specific to my return.
Last year I got my trace number on March 5th with a pending date of March 7th. The money showed up in my account at 12:01 AM on March 7th - I literally stayed up to watch for it because I needed it for my car payment! Every bank is different though. My sister has the same pending date through Chase and didn't get hers until almost noon. I'd say once you have that trace number, you're in the home stretch. The anxiety of waiting for tax refunds is something we all go through every year!
Congrats on getting your trace number! That's definitely a relief when you finally have that confirmation. I went through the same thing last year - had to call TurboTax because their app wasn't showing the trace number either. It's frustrating when the technology doesn't work as expected, but at least their phone support was able to help. In my experience, once you have that trace number and pending date, you're pretty much guaranteed to get your refund. The 2/24 date they gave you should be accurate. I'd expect to see it either late on 2/23 (some banks process overnight) or early morning on 2/24. My credit union usually posts these around 6 AM on the scheduled date. The hardest part is just the waiting now! But you're so close. Having that trace number means all the processing is done and it's just a matter of the money moving through the system. Good luck!
Is this your first time filing with this bank account? I've noticed that first-time direct deposits to accounts seem to take longer than deposits to accounts you've used with the IRS before. Also, did you get your refund through a tax preparer who takes their fees out of your refund? Those sometimes go through a third-party bank first which adds extra time.
I'm going through the exact same thing right now! Had my 846 code with today's date (3/21) on my transcript, got my trace number yesterday, but my bank account is still showing zero pending deposits. I've been checking obsessively every few hours and starting to wonder if something went wrong. Reading through all these responses is actually really reassuring - sounds like this 24-48 hour delay between IRS sending and bank posting is pretty normal. I'm going to try to be patient and check again tomorrow morning. Has anyone else with a 3/21 deposit date actually received their funds yet today?
I'm still confused - so we WANT to pay taxes on Pell grants?? My financial aid office told me grants are usually tax-free. Does this only work if you have kids/dependents?
Your financial aid office is mostly right - Pell grants ARE typically tax-free when used for qualified education expenses like tuition and fees. This strategy of making grants taxable only makes sense in very specific situations: when you have dependents, qualify for refundable tax credits (like Earned Income Credit), and have low earned income from work. In these cases, increasing your "income" by including some grant money can push you into a better range for tax credits, potentially giving you a larger refund. If you don't have dependents or already have moderate income from work, making your grants taxable would probably just increase your tax bill without any benefit.
This is exactly the kind of confusing tax situation that trips up so many people! I went through the same thing last year with my two kids and Pell grants. The key thing to understand is that you're essentially "electing" to treat part of your grants as taxable income because it can trigger bigger refundable credits. When you have dependents and low earned income, sometimes paying a little extra tax on grants gets you WAY more back in Earned Income Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit. In your tax software, don't look for this in the income section at all - that's where I got stuck too. Go straight to the education section first, enter your 1098-T, then when it asks about qualified vs non-qualified expenses, that's where you make the magic happen. You can choose to "allocate" some grant money to non-qualified expenses (like room/board), which makes it taxable. The software should show you the impact on your refund before you finalize anything. In my case, making $6,000 of my grants taxable increased my tax by about $600 but boosted my EIC by $1,800 - so I came out $1,200 ahead! Don't feel bad about being confused - the IRS could definitely make this clearer in their guidance.
Ian Armstrong
I encountered TC 766 on my Account Transcript during the current filing season. In my specific case, it represented a $2,000 Child Tax Credit allocation with a cycle date of 20241105. The Transaction Code 766 appeared simultaneously with TC 768 (Earned Income Credit) and was followed by TC 846 (Refund Issued) approximately 9 days later. The processing sequence typically follows: TC 150 (Return Filed) ā TC 766/768 (Credits Applied) ā TC 846 (Refund Issued). The presence of code 766 without accompanying code 570 (additional account action pending) is generally a positive indicator that your return is progressing normally through the IRS processing pipeline.
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Aisha Rahman
Code 766 is actually a really good sign! It means the IRS has applied credits to your account - things like Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Credit, or other refundable credits you qualified for. The fact that you're seeing this code means your return is being processed normally and the IRS has calculated your credits correctly. Since you mentioned being an international filer, this won't affect your processing timeline differently than domestic filers. Just keep checking your transcript for code 846 "Refund Issued" - that's when you'll know your refund is actually on its way to you. The 766 code is just one step in the process, so you're making progress!
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