"pulled for review"??

What is the name of your state? Texas
I am actually hoping to get Snipes' response on this one, he seems to help out and is very knowledgeable (wow, did I even spell that right?)
I electronically filed my return on Jan 31st and it was accepted Feb 1st (Federal return) I am a sinlge mom with two daughters and only made about $15000 last year. So, my refund was for a little over $7000, and I was told my refund would be direct deposited by Feb 11th, it was not, so I called back, they said it would be teh 15th, it still wasn't. So, when I called again I was told it was pulled for "review" due to the amount of the earned income credit (I used turbo tax, so I did no calculations). They said it is "usually" to just verify that I can in fact claim the girls (I do have a different last name then them now). I called the following Friday and was told it was deposited into my accoutn and the rep verified the routing and account number. Well, my bank never got it. SOOO, I callde back the following Tuesday and was told it was pulled and I would hear back in 10 days from someone in another dept. Nothing, so I caleld AGAIN (I am sure they hate me by now) and then was told it would be 30 days and they didn't know why, just that it was being reviewed and that is all they know and there is no one else I can call. So, I just called again yesterday hoping to find SOMEONE who coudl enlighten me, and am NOW being told it could be 180 days before I even HEAR anything. This blows me away, I don't and never have had itemized deductions and am legally allowed to claim my girls etc. What is going on???

I would go down to the nearest IRS office and ask them in person.

It is possible that someone else attempted to claim your children (they may not tell you that).

It is also possible that you are one of the 25,000 returns that has been selected for detailed review of Earned Income Credit eligibility.

A face to face meeting should sort this out.

Snipes

Who are you calling?

I am calling the 800 number from the web site with the extension it gives me (1-800-829-0582 ext 462). I even tried the tax advocacy, and they told me they could only help me if I had an eviction notice or repossesion notice. And of course, I am now paranoid that I made an error somewhere. I keep goign back over my forms and can't find anything, but with my luck I messed up somewhere. Snipes made me feel better by saying it could just be the Earned Income thing, because I know I am the only one who can claim them, so I didn't mess up there . Any thoughts? I have just never dealt with the IRS and am scared. Thank you

My personal opinion is don't worry about it till you have something to worry about. I was audited about 5 years ago. I was self employeed so I thought great this is going to be a mess. But you know what they questioned? None of my business deductions, they questioned my kids. I had to prove that they were mine and lived with me 12 months out of the year. Now bare in mind, that I am married (and have been their whole live+ a few years) we have not been seperated, we claim them together every year, we all have the same last name, and no one could claim them. They have lived with me and their father every day of their life. My son was 5 so I had the school write a letter for me, but our daughter was 3, she did not go to day care (why do you think I was self employed?) I spent 7 months attempting to prove she was my daughter before they kicked it out and said I now owe $4000+ back to them in fees and interest because they disallowed her! I finally had to get a lawyer to write a letter to the auditer, and it was all suddenly dropped.

They like to check things out randomly and sometimes try to push things to see what they can get. But odds are if you have done nothing wrong you will simply get your money back in few weeks. I was taken to this extreme because of being self employed. It makes you more of a target.

Kansas, you rule!

Thank you So much!! This is a huge relief. I am FAR from perfect, but know I have not intentionally done anything wrong (in this case ). I had heard horror stories about prison and fines etc, you have eased my mind. Snipes, had settled my mind BIG time then you came along and calmed it more! I am really glad I found this. THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!