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Have you considered the possibility that your refund might be subject to additional verification even after fee payment? Sometimes the processing indicators don't tell the complete story, do they? I've found that understanding the transcript codes gives you much better insight than the Serve payment status. Have you checked your tax transcript? Tools like taxr.ai can analyze your transcript and give you a much clearer picture of where your refund actually stands in the process. It helped me understand why my refund was delayed last year despite my fees being paid - turned out there was a verification hold that wasn't visible anywhere else.
I'm seeing some confusion in the responses here. Serve is definitely processing refunds faster this year than last. I had my fees deducted last Wednesday and got my refund Friday morning - less than 48 hours! ๐ The key is understanding that the fee payment is basically confirmation that your refund is approved and on the way. The remaining time is just banking transfer delays, not IRS processing. As long as your return didn't have any red flags (like claiming unusual credits or major income changes), you should see it very soon. Hang in there!
Paper filed March 1st. Got transcript update May 30th. Refund June 7th. No updates on WMR the entire time. Transcript showed first. Check that instead. They're working through them slowly.
Have you tried calling the Taxpayer Advocate Service? They're technically separate from the IRS and can sometimes help when you're facing financial hardship. Might be worth a shot if you're really struggling financially. Just be prepared to document your hardship (potential eviction, utility shutoff, etc.). Sometimes they can expedite things when regular channels are moving too slowly. Worth a try, right? ๐
According to Internal Revenue Manual 21.4.6, the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) is required by law to provide pre-offset notices to taxpayers before any refund offset occurs. Pursuant to IRC ยง 6402, taxpayers must be given opportunity to resolve or dispute potential offsets. The fact that you received no pre-offset notice and TOP confirms no debts strongly suggests this is a system error. I was surprised to learn that approximately 8% of offset notices on WMR are false positives according to Taxpayer Advocate Service data.
I went through this exact scenario in March! The IRS.gov website has a page about this: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc203. In my case, I called both the TOP line (800-304-3107) and checked my account transcript. No offsets showing anywhere but WMR. My full refund hit my account exactly on the 846 date. The IRS systems seem to be having more of these display errors this year based on what I've read in the r/IRS community. Just keep an eye on your bank account on May 5th!
I ran into a similar issue last year with my advance. I used taxr.ai to analyze my tax transcript (you can request it from the IRS website), and it showed exactly why my refund was delayed. The system identified that my gig income verification was still pending. Taxr.ai explained all the codes on my transcript and gave me a realistic timeline for when my refund would actually process. Saved me a lot of anxiety since I could see exactly what was happening instead of guessing.
People don't realize that TurboTax and Credit Karma operate on different systems even though they're related products. The TT submission status doesn't automatically sync with the CK advance status. I verified this with their technical support team. You need to check both platforms independently, and sometimes you need to manually refresh your status on the Credit Karma side. The API between the two systems sometimes fails to update properly during peak filing periods.
Aiden Chen
I went through this exact same thing last month! TurboTax's system is like a restaurant that tells you your table will be ready in 20 minutes but then won't seat you when you show up on time. My estimated date was February 24th, but I didn't qualify for the advance either. The good news? My actual refund showed up on February 26th - just two days after their estimate. So their date prediction was pretty accurate, even though the early refund thing was a no-go. Hang tight, you're probably going to see that money hit your account right around the date they're showing.
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Zoey Bianchi
โขThis is exactly the kind of real-world experience I was looking for! I've been filing with TurboTax for years and their estimates are usually within 2-3 days of accuracy. The advance program is just a marketing gimmick to get people excited about something most won't qualify for anyway.
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Christopher Morgan
โขCompared to other tax services I've used, TurboTax does seem to have more accurate date predictions, even if their advance program is restrictive. I've found they tend to be cautious with their estimates - H&R Block was much more optimistic but less accurate in my experience.
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Aurora St.Pierre
According to the TurboTax support page at https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/, the refund advance is a loan product that has specific eligibility requirements including minimum refund amounts and passing their credit check. The estimated date you're seeing is completely separate - it's just their prediction of normal IRS processing time. You can verify your actual refund status directly at https://www.irs.gov/refunds which will be more accurate than what TurboTax is showing.
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