Federal income tax return - claim delayed over 3mo

[cataxpayer]

I'm a California resident that filed the simplest possible (single, no claims, no deducations, don't owe irs anything) completely clean federal income tax return for my 2013 wages electronically and exactly as reported on official W-2 form from my sole employer for that year and have been delayed over 3mo in receiving my money. Timeline;

Jan 31st - Electronically filed through TaxAct
Feb 5th - Accepted by IRS (no status shown via wheres my refund tool)
Feb 24th - Letter received claiming a review is needed, allow up to 60 days for response
April 25th - I reached IRS since 60 days have passed and no response via phone, email or mail. I am told to send in supporting documentation and allow up to 45 days.
April 26th - I write a letter, provide my official federal copy of w-2 form, copy of my return and employer contact info and certify mail it to address given over phone
May 2nd - I call back to see if response is given and lady says she is putting a referral to that department.
May 10th - Still can't see a status posted on the Where's my refund tool and I'm sure as heck if I call i'll be told to wait 45 days and i probably shouldn't expect a response from them or money any sooner as you can see how they ignored me in the first place.

Has anyone else had this issue and is there anything else i should do to get MY money..?

Thanks

 

[Proserpina]

I'm a California resident that filed the simplest possible (single, no claims, no deducations, don't owe irs anything) completely clean federal income tax return for my 2013 wages electronically and exactly as reported on official W-2 form from my sole employer for that year and have been delayed over 3mo in receiving my money. Timeline;

Jan 31st - Electronically filed through TaxAct
Feb 5th - Accepted by IRS (no status shown via wheres my refund tool)
Feb 24th - Letter received claiming a review is needed, allow up to 60 days for response
April 25th - I reached IRS since 60 days have passed and no response via phone, email or mail. I am told to send in supporting documentation and allow up to 45 days.
April 26th - I write a letter, provide my official federal copy of w-2 form, copy of my return and employer contact info and certify mail it to address given over phone
May 2nd - I call back to see if response is given and lady says she is putting a referral to that department.
May 10th - Still can't see a status posted on the Where's my refund tool and I'm sure as heck if I call i'll be told to wait 45 days and i probably shouldn't expect a response from them or money any sooner as you can see how they ignored me in the first place.

Has anyone else had this issue and is there anything else i should do to get MY money..?

Thanks

Were you given a reference number when you were were told it needed a review?

 

[LdiJ]

I'm a California resident that filed the simplest possible (single, no claims, no deducations, don't owe irs anything) completely clean federal income tax return for my 2013 wages electronically and exactly as reported on official W-2 form from my sole employer for that year and have been delayed over 3mo in receiving my money. Timeline;

Jan 31st - Electronically filed through TaxAct
Feb 5th - Accepted by IRS (no status shown via wheres my refund tool)
Feb 24th - Letter received claiming a review is needed, allow up to 60 days for response
April 25th - I reached IRS since 60 days have passed and no response via phone, email or mail. I am told to send in supporting documentation and allow up to 45 days.
April 26th - I write a letter, provide my official federal copy of w-2 form, copy of my return and employer contact info and certify mail it to address given over phone
May 2nd - I call back to see if response is given and lady says she is putting a referral to that department.
May 10th - Still can't see a status posted on the Where's my refund tool and I'm sure as heck if I call i'll be told to wait 45 days and i probably shouldn't expect a response from them or money any sooner as you can see how they ignored me in the first place.

Has anyone else had this issue and is there anything else i should do to get MY money..?

Thanks

I am a tax professional. I have, unfortunately, seen quite a bit of this type of thing this year. I have not been able to figure out a clear cut explanation for the problem.

When you say "no status shown on where's my refund tool" do you mean it just says that your return is being processed, or doesn't it acknowledge your return at all?

In any case, my belief is that IRS personnel are pulling a certain number of returns from the normal electronic system, and examining them by hand, and that there are simply not enough IRS personnel to handle the numbers they are pulling. Its quite unfair, particularly in the case of a return as simple as yours. However I can also tell you that identity theft issues are massively on the rise with tax return filings as well. We are a firm that does upwards of 11k of returns a year, and we have probably had at least 100 tax returns that were rejected by the IRS because someone else already filed a return using that SSN...and a good third of those were for teenagers who we prepared and filed for free because we did their parent's return. In prior years we might have had three or four in that scenario...not upwards of a 100.

If its truly a hardship for you that you haven't received your refund, consider contacting the taxpayer's advocate office. You can find contact information by going to irs.gov, and doing a search for "taxpayer's advocate".

 

[Proserpina]

Oh yes - contacting the tax advocate is a superb idea.

I'll give you a brief example.

Frank and Furter are married. Furter, Frank's wife, incurred a tax debt during the marriage (rather, both of them since this is a community property state)

Fast forward a bit, and Frank speaks to an attorney. Eventually Frank did file a no-asset Ch.7, including the tax debt. Eventually the tax debt was discharged (it met the requirements )....but IRS still grabbed the refund using the "offset" reason. The problem was, according to the law, the offset was not appropriate. Frank turned to a tax advocate (I can still remember her name), and after a couple of months the offset was returned to Frank and the lien was completely gone...forever and ever.

Frank actually framed the last letter from the tax advocate; in three paragraphs he counted 6 apologies.

(Before I get jumped on, Frank and Furter had a legitimate issue and didn't really know what to do - this wasn't a case of trying to cheat the government)

 

[cataxpayer]

I am a tax professional. I have, unfortunately, seen quite a bit of this type of thing this year. I have not been able to figure out a clear cut explanation for the problem.

When you say "no status shown on where's my refund tool" do you mean it just says that your return is being processed, or doesn't it acknowledge your return at all?

In any case, my belief is that IRS personnel are pulling a certain number of returns from the normal electronic system, and examining them by hand, and that there are simply not enough IRS personnel to handle the numbers they are pulling. Its quite unfair, particularly in the case of a return as simple as yours. However I can also tell you that identity theft issues are massively on the rise with tax return filings as well. We are a firm that does upwards of 11k of returns a year, and we have probably had at least 100 tax returns that were rejected by the IRS because someone else already filed a return using that SSN...and a good third of those were for teenagers who we prepared and filed for free because we did their parent's return. In prior years we might have had three or four in that scenario...not upwards of a 100.

If its truly a hardship for you that you haven't received your refund, consider contacting the taxpayer's advocate office. You can find contact information by going to irs.gov, and doing a search for "taxpayer's advocate".

Thanks for the responses. The WMR tool says it is being processed and to check back.

 

[LdiJ]

Thanks for the responses. The WMR tool says it is being processed and to check back.

My advice is to give it one more week, and then contact the taxpayer's advocate.

 

[cataxpayer]

My advice is to give it one more week, and then contact the taxpayer's advocate.

Ok, I will thanks

 

[cataxpayer]

Oh yes - contacting the tax advocate is a superb idea.

I'll give you a brief example.

Frank and Furter are married. Furter, Frank's wife, incurred a tax debt during the marriage (rather, both of them since this is a community property state)

Fast forward a bit, and Frank speaks to an attorney. Eventually Frank did file a no-asset Ch.7, including the tax debt. Eventually the tax debt was discharged (it met the requirements )....but IRS still grabbed the refund using the "offset" reason. The problem was, according to the law, the offset was not appropriate. Frank turned to a tax advocate (I can still remember her name), and after a couple of months the offset was returned to Frank and the lien was completely gone...forever and ever.

Frank actually framed the last letter from the tax advocate; in three paragraphs he counted 6 apologies.

(Before I get jumped on, Frank and Furter had a legitimate issue and didn't really know what to do - this wasn't a case of trying to cheat the government)

Thanks for the brief example. are you suggesting that an issue of my nature will not receive assistance from a tax advocate?

 

[cataxpayer]

Thanks for the brief example. are you suggesting that an issue of my nature will not receive assistance from a tax advocate?

I called them for the third time today after sending the supporting documents and had the lady put in a second referral to dept and said if I don't receive a call in a week then I call them and she gave me a number.

Maybe they set this system up so the government holds as much as they can for as long as possible and release money to those that show urgency in needing it. i am more pissed off than i am in need as i haven't received response when they said they would reach me and have been delayed so long when I promptly and accurately e-filed on Jan 31st.

So filing early shouldn't give you any expectations.

 

[Proserpina]

Thanks for the brief example. are you suggesting that an issue of my nature will not receive assistance from a tax advocate?

No - I'm saying the exact opposite

The tax advocate folk are, in my experience, really helpful.

 

[davew128]

No - I'm saying the exact opposite

The tax advocate folk are, in my experience, really helpful.

They USED to be helpful. These days, they have really cut back on the issues they will get involved with and are advocates in name only.

 

[LdiJ]

I called them for the third time today after sending the supporting documents and had the lady put in a second referral to dept and said if I don't receive a call in a week then I call them and she gave me a number.

Maybe they set this system up so the government holds as much as they can for as long as possible and release money to those that show urgency in needing it. i am more pissed off than i am in need as i haven't received response when they said they would reach me and have been delayed so long when I promptly and accurately e-filed on Jan 31st.

So filing early shouldn't give you any expectations.

No, they really haven't done that. Otherwise a lot more people would be in your position. I really cannot explain what is happening to you.

 

[Zigner]

I would suggest that you adjust your withholdings so that you break even at the end of the year.

 

[cataxpayer]

I would suggest that you adjust your withholdings so that you break even at the end of the year.

I've filed already and need to know what to do to get this refund.

I called in several times and was given different phone numbers that did not help, one person said to wait, another gave me a direct line to tax payer advocate with a case number and he nor the immediate assistance line has responded to me. Oh yeah one rep told me there was no identity theft flag or activity on my acct there shouldn't be a delay, another told me there was and need 30 more days for investigation. This makes no sense. why cant they give me the number to the department that requesting supporting documentation. why on earth am I working for my tax refund?? and why have they wasted so much of their rep time on this.

the rep i called again most recently tells me they cant mail to my address because they want to make sure it is me??
Why are they mailing me my 2010 return to this address and not my 2013.

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Where is the nearest place with a tax advocate? Sometimes you just need to show up in person. As an aside, you will be issued a check with interest. Then the government will send you a 1099-INT for said interest.