I'm starting to fear that my (paper) tax return may have gotten lost after delivery, because I haven't received the refund. The certified mail tracking number says it was delivered on April 12th, which is 9 weeks ago. Generally they say "If it's been 6 weeks and you've heard nothing, call us", but ha ha, you can't really do that (see below). A COVID-specific processing times page does say there are 2021 tax returns still unprocessed as of June 1, but also claims they are opening mail within "normal timeframes", whatever that means. Everything we can find gives us the idea that the existence of the return should have been registered pretty quickly after delivery, even if the actual processing gets dragged out, but I can't confirm that that happened. I'm not (very) antsy about the refund itself, I'm just worried that they're going to think I never filed a return at all and that will have future consequences (read, penalties) that I don't want to have to try to fight.
"Where's My Refund" says there's no such return matching the SSN/birthdate/refund amount I supply. The statuses it reports are Return Received, Refund Approved, and Refund Sent, but I don't know whether they take the taxpayer's calculation of the refund amount at its word as far as identifying information, or would consider that "wrong information" if their math disagreed and therefore it would be expected to retrieve no result.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
enotsola logging in to his IRS account says our 2021 return is "not processed", but its statuses are unknown so it's hard to conclude whether that means "we got it but haven't handled it yet" or "we never got it at all". (And if it does mean the former, then Where's My Refund should say "received" -- unless, as I said, it doesn't like the refund amount I'm supplying.)
Calling them was of no avail because, after navigating a phone tree that apparently required a strategy guide, they hang up on you saying that call volume is too high. I don't know if this is the kind of thing it would be possible to ask about at the local office, but you can't call them to ask even that question, either -- they say "we do not take any calls at this number; make an appointment" (why have a published phone number at all, then?), and the page above's advice about local offices basically says "don't bother unless it is something that must be transacted in person by its nature" (like certain verifications of identity).
So all I've got at this point is the USPS's word that they delivered an envelope to a PO Box in Utah. What do?
"Where's My Refund" says there's no such return matching the SSN/birthdate/refund amount I supply. The statuses it reports are Return Received, Refund Approved, and Refund Sent, but I don't know whether they take the taxpayer's calculation of the refund amount at its word as far as identifying information, or would consider that "wrong information" if their math disagreed and therefore it would be expected to retrieve no result.
enotsola logging in to his IRS account says our 2021 return is "not processed", but its statuses are unknown so it's hard to conclude whether that means "we got it but haven't handled it yet" or "we never got it at all". (And if it does mean the former, then Where's My Refund should say "received" -- unless, as I said, it doesn't like the refund amount I'm supplying.)Calling them was of no avail because, after navigating a phone tree that apparently required a strategy guide, they hang up on you saying that call volume is too high. I don't know if this is the kind of thing it would be possible to ask about at the local office, but you can't call them to ask even that question, either -- they say "we do not take any calls at this number; make an appointment" (why have a published phone number at all, then?), and the page above's advice about local offices basically says "don't bother unless it is something that must be transacted in person by its nature" (like certain verifications of identity).
So all I've got at this point is the USPS's word that they delivered an envelope to a PO Box in Utah. What do?