ya irs is a mess right now honestly. i filed on paper (big mistake) in march and am still waiting. at least you efiled so youll probably get urs before me 😂

I'm in a similar boat - filed February 5th and still waiting! The frustration is real. What's helped me understand what's going on is checking my tax transcript regularly. You can access it through the IRS website if you can get through their identity verification process. The transcript shows specific codes that explain why your refund might be delayed. For example, code 570 means there's a hold on your refund, and code 971 usually means they're sending you a notice requesting additional information. Also, if you claimed any credits like the Earned Income Credit, Child Tax Credit, or education credits, those automatically trigger additional review which can add months to processing time. The IRS has to manually verify these credits. Keep checking your transcript weekly and don't give up! Some people are getting refunds after 4-5 months with no explanation for the delay. The system is definitely overwhelmed right now.

I had exactly the same issue 27 days ago and was terrified I'd done something wrong! Called the IRS exactly 14 times before getting through. The agent told me it was flagged because I reported exactly $12,489 in business expenses on Schedule C which apparently triggered an automatic review. They verified everything within 16 days and my refund of $2,874 was deposited exactly 5 days later. Sometimes it really is just a random check like others have said!

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences! This is really helpful. I'm dealing with Tax Topic 151 for the first time and was panicking thinking I'd made some major error. Reading through all your stories makes me feel much better - sounds like it could just be routine verification. I did claim some home office expenses for my remote work setup this year, which I didn't have in previous years, so that might have triggered the review. Going to wait for the official notice before taking any action, but it's reassuring to know others have gone through this successfully. Will update the thread once I hear back from the IRS!

Has anyone had the experience where your late filed return showed a DIFFERENT refund amount than what your tax software calculated? I'm worried that the IRS will recalculate and I'll end up getting less. Paper filed my 2021 return in October 2023 and still waiting...

I'm in almost the exact same boat! Filed my 2022 return in February 2024 via mail and have been anxiously waiting. Based on what everyone's saying here, it sounds like we're looking at a long wait unfortunately. One thing that's giving me some peace of mind is knowing there won't be penalties since we're getting refunds. I was really worried about that initially. And the interest payment is actually a nice bonus - 7% is better than most savings accounts right now! I've been checking the "Where's My Refund" tool obsessively but it still shows nothing after 2 months. Sounds like that's totally normal for paper returns though. Really wish I had just e-filed but I was being paranoid about security at the time. Thanks to everyone sharing their experiences - it's helping me set realistic expectations. Sounds like I should probably plan on waiting until at least summer/fall to see that money.

Has anyone had success using the IRS online account to resolve these kinds of issues? I'm in a similar situation with duplicate notices but really don't want to call or mail anything if I can avoid it.

I've been through this exact same nightmare! Got stuck in the IRS notice loop for almost 6 months. Here's what finally worked for me: Don't ignore the duplicate notices - they can actually restart collection actions even if your case was previously closed. I made that mistake and ended up with a lien threat. Call the Practitioner Priority Service line at 866-860-4259 if you have a tax professional, or use the regular taxpayer line but ask to speak with someone in the "Correspondence Examination" department specifically. Tell them you have conflicting notices and need them to consolidate your case file. When you call, have these ready: - Your CP2005 closure notice - The most recent CP2501 - All your fax confirmation receipts - The weird form 202112 you mentioned Ask them to put a "case consolidation hold" on your account while they sort it out. This prevents any automated notices from going out while a human reviews your file. I also recommend requesting a "manual case review" - this forces an actual person to look at your timeline instead of letting the computer keep spitting out notices. The rep should be able to see all your submissions and confirm everything was properly processed. The whole thing took about 30 minutes on the phone once I got through to the right department. Haven't gotten a duplicate notice since!

This happened to me last year and the year before. In 2022, my federal came 9 days before state. In 2023, it was 16 days. This year my federal arrived February 18th and state didn't show up until March 12th. It's becoming the new normal with state systems being slower than federal. As long as your state shows "Processing" and not "Review" or "Verification Required," you should be fine.

I'm experiencing something similar this year! Filed on February 3rd and got my federal refund last week, but my state is still showing "Processing" after 34 days. In previous years, my state (Virginia) was always 5-7 days faster than federal. I called the Virginia Department of Taxation yesterday and they said they're running about 2-3 weeks behind their normal processing schedule due to system upgrades they implemented in January. The representative assured me that as long as it shows "Processing" rather than "Under Review," it's just in the queue and should be released soon. Maybe your state is dealing with similar backend changes this tax season?