Are you stimulating?

[Anonymous Bosch]

Current Status (Week Fourteen):

Federal Tax Return: "We cannot provide any information about your refund"

2nd Stimulus: (Still) Supposedly getting it in my Tax Refund
3rd Stimulus: "Payment Status - Not Available"

---

I called the number (again) listed on the IRS page for assistance but (again) only got an automated system that allows me to enter all of my information only for it to give me the electronic equivalent of shrugging it's shoulders and saying, "fuck if I know."

It did go on to suggest I could make an appointment with a local agent so I may just have to give that a try.

Keep in mind, this is precisely how nationalized healthcare operates (suffice to say as a British ex-pat, I speak from experience).

[Madmarcus]

I've changed my vote to say I'm spending on experience. My stimulus (plus the credit I had from a Covid cancelled flight earlier) has gone to flying back to the US to visit family. I'm not sure I'm really happy stimulating Delta but I love seeing people.

[hitbyambulance]

I'm not sure I'm really happy stimulating Delta

i still haven't forgiven them for buying out Northwest Airlines

[Kraken]

I'm not sure I'm really happy stimulating Delta

i still haven't forgiven them for buying out Northwest Airlines

[Brian]

Current Status (Week Fifteen):

Federal Tax Return: "We cannot provide any information about your refund"

2nd Stimulus: (Still) Supposedly getting it in my Tax Refund
3rd Stimulus: "Payment Status - Not Available"

Looking like a slow work day tomorrow so I should have some time to give the local IRS office a call and try to setup an appointment.

[Daehawk]

[Blackhawk]

[Brian]

And the nightmare continues.

I've just called the IRS assistance line and after getting the automated runaround again, the phone algorithm suggested I make an appointment at my local IRS office.

So, I called the local IRS office and after again getting an automated runaround it begrudgingly transferred me over to the appointment hotline, which then promptly informed me that due to the high call volume could I politely fuck off until a later date whereupon I could try again.

[LawBeefaroni]

And the nightmare continues.

I've just called the IRS assistance line and after getting the automated runaround again, the phone algorithm suggested I make an appointment at my local IRS office.

So, I called the local IRS office and after again getting an automated runaround it begrudgingly transferred me over to the appointment hotline, which then promptly informed me that due to the high call volume could I politely fuck off until a later date whereupon I could try again.

They're are overloaded. Bad news for you, good news for anyone trying to get away with tax fraud.

[Brian]

I get that, I really do, but I would like, at the very least, for some sort of acknowledgment that they actually have my return.

Just a simple confirmation instead of the useless "we have no status" would put my mind at ease.

[LawBeefaroni]

I get that, I really do, but I would like, at the very least, for some sort of acknowledgment that they actually have my return.

Just a simple confirmation instead of the useless "we have no status" would put my mind at ease.

Totally understand. It's frustrating as hell.

And they have zero motivation to provide decent customer service.
Just like any other mandated government bureaucracy. You're a captive customer. Where else are you going to go?

[Brian]

Current Status (Week Sixteen):

Federal Tax Return: "We cannot provide any information about your refund"

2nd Stimulus: (Still) Supposedly getting it in my Tax Refund
3rd Stimulus: "Payment Status - Not Available"

Have tried almost every single (week)day to contact my local office to setup an appointment. Even if I call them first thing in the morning I'm still hit with the "due to high call volume....etc" message and then get disconnected.

[Isgrimnur]

Time to go in-person.

[Brian]

Considering it. However, recent Google reviews all state some variation of "they will turn you away if you don't have an appointment, also, good luck getting an appointment."

[Smoove_B]

Have you seen this article?

I share in the hopes it helps.

[Brian]

I actually followed the advice from that article a couple months back to no avail. It looks like some of the key points have been updated so perhaps I'll give it another go.

Reading some of the replies in the comments section doesn't fill me with hope though.

[pr0ner]

I actually followed the advice from that article a couple months back to no avail. It looks like some of the key points have been updated so perhaps I'll give it another go.

Reading some of the replies in the comments section doesn't fill me with hope though.

This WaPo article probably won't fill you with much hope, either.

The Internal Revenue Service closed the most recent filing season with more than 35 million in unprocessed tax returns, as the agency’s backlog grew markedly amid a crush of challenges related to the pandemic and economic relief efforts, a government watchdog said Wednesday.

Erin Collins, the National Taxpayer Advocate, said in her report that about 17 million paper tax returns are still waiting to be processed and approximately 16 million additional returns have been placed on hold because they require further review manually. Another 2.7 million amended tax returns have not been processed.

This backlog represents a four-fold increase from 2019 — the most recent year before coronavirus — when the IRS closed its filing season with only 7.4 million unprocessed returns, according to the report. These numbers reflect the IRS backlog as of May, and the agency may have made progress reducing it since then. The IRS backlog amounted to 11 million at the end of the 2020 filing season, almost a third of the current number of unprocessed returns.

[Brian]

Yeah, it's gonna be a while before I see anything.

On the other hand, with such low expectations the odds of being pleasantly surprised go up a bit. :shrug:

[Brian]

Yeah, it's gonna be a while before I see anything.

Or maybe not. My USPS Informed Delivery app tells me that today I can expect to receive an envelope from the IRS Submission Processing Center.

I'm sure that means that there's something wrong/missing with my return and now it will even further delay the process.

[dbt1949]

Oh, so now you're stimulating yourself.

[Brian]

I'm sure that means that there's something wrong/missing with my return and now it will even further delay the process.

Missing a signature. FFS.

[Isgrimnur]

Womp womp.

[Brian]

In my defense, I did the return online using TurboTax which includes a signature block that allows you to type the name and it then converts it into a signature when filing electronically.

Since I wasn't allowed to e-file (for reasons covered earlier in this thread) I had to print out my return and well... let me just say that I love my wife and would never say anything bad about her but, she did marry kind of an idiot.

[Isgrimnur]

Like Costco-sized.

[Blackhawk]

In my defense, I did the return online using TurboTax which includes a signature block that allows you to type the name and it then converts it into a signature when filing electronically.

Since I wasn't allowed to e-file (for reasons covered earlier in this thread) I had to print out my return and well... let me just say that I love my wife and would never say anything bad about her but, she did marry kind of an idiot.

And there go my plans for reading OO out loud on Discord.

[Brian]

Week 27 (I think)

For anybody still wondering....

Nada. Zip. Nothing.

No refund, no stimulus (2-4)

I still expect the refund from 2020 which includes (theoretically) the 2nd stimulus but I've completely abandoned any hope of getting third/fourth stimulus.

[Brian]

Week Thirty Something.....

I finally got a different result on the IRS Check My Refund Status page.

Refund Status Results

Your tax return is still being processed.

A refund date will be provided when available.

So at least they are now finally accepting that I exist and have some kind of status within the system.

Also, the wife got a letter from the IRS last week stating that she could be eligible to receive a third round stimulus check.
Funny, we file jointly but only she got the notice about MAYBE getting a third stimulus payout.

[Daehawk]

You're due a good lump sum. Hope ya get it before Xmas.

[Brian]

The stupid thing is, once I get it I'm just going to turn around and give it right back to them since I'm still paying on my taxes for 2018.

Of course, it's now got to the point where I will have some money left over once that bill gets paid. How much I'll have left over will depend on when, exactly, they finally deliver my refund.

[Daehawk]

My taxes went up..for no reason. Well other than they say so. Could be worse. My property taxes are $400 and my nephews is $12k in NY

[Zarathud]

The stupid thing is, once I get it I'm just going to turn around and give it right back to them since I'm still paying on my taxes for 2018.

Of course, it's now got to the point where I will have some money left over once that bill gets paid. How much I'll have left over will depend on when, exactly, they finally deliver my refund.

This is why you don’t have a check, I expect. The IRS was hammered years ago over issuing refunds to those with unpaid taxes. The IRS department in charge of releasing funds is hesitant if there were any prior liens.

[Anonymous Bosch]

My taxes went up..for no reason. Well other than they say so. Could be worse. My property taxes are $400 and my nephews is $12k in NY

Get used to it, because as a quixotic libertarian put it…

[gilraen]

Inflation has nothing to do with property taxes. Real estate market can fuel inflation, not the other way around.

[Daehawk]

The property assessor's office asked me if my floors were falling in when I complained my taxes were too high and my house was old....which they are...but I said no nope they're fine. Dont need them to condemn my home and kick me out. Place was build in 1929..how are floors not saggy at that age

[Anonymous Bosch]

Inflation has nothing to do with property taxes. Real estate market can fuel inflation, not the other way around.

No one said it did. It was a flippant aside on getting used to taxes and the cost of living going up, especially for those like Daehawk, who must struggle to make ends meet on a fixed income.

[malchior]

Ask Japan what a world without inflation looks like.

[Daehawk]

Supposedly in 13 more years I can stop paying property taxes.

[Biyobi]

Week Thirty Something.....

I finally got a different result on the IRS Check My Refund Status page.

Refund Status Results

Your tax return is still being processed.

A refund date will be provided when available.

So at least they are now finally accepting that I exist and have some kind of status within the system.

Also, the wife got a letter from the IRS last week stating that she could be eligible to receive a third round stimulus check.
Funny, we file jointly but only she got the notice about MAYBE getting a third stimulus payout.

Wife and I filed in March and our taxes+stimulus also took forever to get processed. Same limbo status that you were in. We finally got our refund (plus the first two rounds of stimulus) at the end of September via direct deposit. We got a check last week for the third round. Yesterday, my wife got the same letter saying she could be eligible for the third round.

[Brian]

So you're saying there's a chance?

[Default]

To be fair, the IRS has been crippled with funding cuts so it's not surprising, and when you add in all the plague-related issues that the rest of the country had to face, I am not surprised. Certainly not pleased at this course of events, but not surprised.