Welcome to the community, Carmen! Your experience sounds incredibly familiar - I went through the exact same frustration with the "Payment Status Not Available" error for what felt like forever. The address formatting issue is definitely the most common culprit, and it's such a simple fix once you know what to look for. When you pull out your tax return copy, pay really close attention to things like whether "Street" is spelled out or abbreviated as "St", how apartment numbers are formatted, and even spacing between words. I discovered my issue was that I was typing "North" but my return had "N" abbreviated. One thing that helped me was actually typing the address exactly as it appears, character by character, rather than trying to remember it. Sometimes the IRS formatting is different from how we normally write our addresses. The reassurance about automatic processing really helped ease my anxiety too. Even though it's frustrating not being able to track the status online, knowing that the payment will still come based on your filed return takes a lot of pressure off. This community has been such a lifesaver for navigating these EIP complications - everyone's willingness to share their real experiences and solutions has made this whole process so much less isolating. Hope you get your status tool working soon, but either way, you should definitely receive your payment!

As a newcomer to this community, I want to thank everyone for this incredibly helpful thread! I've been dealing with EIP frustrations for weeks and this discussion has been more useful than any official resource I've found. I'm in a similar situation to many others here - filed my 2024 return in February, got my refund processed normally, but have been getting "Payment Status Not Available" errors ever since. After reading through all these experiences, I'm confident it's the address formatting issue that's been mentioned so frequently. What really stands out to me is how many people have found success by checking their exact tax return format rather than typing their address from memory. I definitely fall into that trap of using my "normal" address format instead of whatever the IRS has on file. Going to pull out my return copy tonight and try entering it character by character as suggested. The most reassuring thing I've learned here is that payments are processed automatically based on filed returns, even when the online tool doesn't cooperate. That takes a huge weight off knowing I won't miss out just because of website technical issues. Really appreciate everyone sharing their real experiences with both the problems and solutions - it's made this whole confusing process feel much less isolating. Looking forward to contributing back to the community once I hopefully get my own situation resolved!

I've seen this exact situation with several clients this year. The "RETURN NOT PRESENT" message is misleading - it doesn't mean your return is lost or missing. What's happening is that your return has been received and is in the IRS processing queue, but it hasn't been fully processed yet. The Head of Household status showing up is likely from your previous year's return that's still on file. Since you filed in February and it's now April, you're at about 8-10 weeks which is unfortunately becoming normal this year. The IRS is dealing with massive backlogs - they're about 3-4 weeks behind their usual processing times. E-filed returns with certain credits (like EIC, CTC, or ACTC) are taking even longer due to fraud prevention measures. My recommendation: Give it another 2-3 weeks before taking action. If nothing changes by early May, then definitely call the IRS directly. The transcript will update once they actually process your return, and you'll see all the proper codes and your refund information appear. Until then, the "RETURN NOT PRESENT" status is just their confusing way of saying "we got it, but haven't gotten to it yet." Keep checking weekly but try not to stress too much - delays like this are extremely common this filing season.

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! Filed my 2023 return in early March and seeing that same confusing "RETURN NOT PRESENT" message while it also shows my Head of Household status. It's been driving me crazy trying to figure out what's going on. Reading through all these responses has been super helpful though. Sounds like this is just the IRS being the IRS - received our returns but haven't actually processed them yet. The fact that so many people are experiencing the same thing makes me feel a lot better about it. I'm going to try to stop checking my transcript every other day and just wait it out for a few more weeks. If nothing changes by mid-May, I'll look into calling them or using one of those services people mentioned to get through to an actual agent. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it's reassuring to know this is normal (even if it's frustrating)!

Just to add a small detail from my experience as a freelance writer in Ireland working with US publications - don't forget to include your foreign address in the format expected in the US! This means: - House/flat number first, then street name - City, region/province - Postal code (they sometimes call this ZIP code) - Country written in full (United Kingdom, not UK) I had my form rejected the first time because I wrote the address in the standard UK format and abbreviated United Kingdom as UK. Seems minor but some companies are really strict about this!

As someone who's been through this process multiple times as a UK-based freelancer working with US clients, I can confirm that the advice here is spot on! Just wanted to add a few practical tips that helped me: 1. When filling out Part I (your identification), make sure your name matches exactly what's on your passport or other official ID. Some US companies will cross-reference this. 2. For Part II (claim of tax treaty benefits), be very specific. Write "United Kingdom" in line 9a, cite "Article 12" in line 9b, and specify "0%" as the rate of withholding in line 9c for illustration/royalty work. 3. Don't panic if the magazine's accounting department asks follow-up questions - it's actually a good sign that they're being thorough. I've had clients ask for clarification on treaty benefits, and it's totally normal. 4. Keep digital copies of everything. I save my completed W-8BEN forms in a dedicated folder because different clients sometimes need them at different times, and it's much easier than filling out the form from scratch each time. The UK-US tax treaty is quite favorable for creative work, so once you get this sorted, you should be able to work with other US clients much more easily in the future. Good luck with your commission - it sounds like an exciting opportunity!

Something important that hasn't been mentioned yet - don't forget about self-employment taxes! If you do make your woodworking a legitimate business, you'll pay an additional 15.3% on your profits for Medicare and Social Security taxes. This is on top of income tax. This is one reason why an S-Corp can eventually make sense (after you're profitable), as you can pay yourself a reasonable salary (subject to SE tax) and take the rest as distributions (not subject to SE tax).

Just went through this with my pottery business! My advice: start as a sole proprietor (Schedule C) first, not an S-Corp. Way simpler and lower compliance costs. You'll need to be careful about what you deduct. For equipment, anything over $2,500 typically needs to be depreciated rather than expensed entirely in year one (though Section 179 and bonus depreciation might help). For home workspace, you can only deduct space used EXCLUSIVELY for business. If your workshop doubles as storage or family space, you'll run into problems.

Has anyone else noticed that TurboTax seems to be having more technical issues this year? This is the first time I've had problems with them in years of filing.

I'm experiencing the exact same issue! Filed through TurboTax on Tuesday and it's now Friday with no acceptance notice. Reading through these comments has been really helpful - sounds like this is much more common this year than in previous filing seasons. I'm going to wait the full 5 days before taking any action, but it's reassuring to know that the transmission confirmation from TurboTax is the important first step. The information about new IRS fraud detection systems causing delays makes a lot of sense too. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!