Got my refund today! Had similar confusion last month. Refund showed sent. Nothing in my account. Called IRS. Started trace. Got number TR-28453901. Bank found issue within days. Wrong account number. IRS reissued payment. Whole process took 3 weeks. Trace number made all the difference. Every time I called for updates I just gave that number. No long explanations needed.

Thanks for all the detailed explanations everyone! I'm in a similar situation - my refund shows as issued on WMR but hasn't hit my account after 8 days. I've been hesitant to call the IRS because of the wait times, but reading about the trace process here makes it seem more straightforward than I expected. One question though - when you get the trace number, can you check the status online or do you have to call each time for updates? Also, has anyone noticed if certain banks are more prone to rejecting refunds? I bank with a smaller credit union and wondering if that could be part of the issue.

Have you tried checking the Tax Advocate Service? They can sometimes help if your refund is causing financial hardship. I felt so helpless waiting after my verification last year, but they were able to assist when I explained I needed the funds for emergency home repairs. You have to demonstrate actual financial hardship though, not just wanting your money faster. The process takes some paperwork but might be worth it if you're truly depending on those funds.

I went through this exact same process about a month ago! After completing ID verification through ID.me, my refund took exactly 19 days to hit my account. The frustrating part was that my transcript barely updated during those 19 days - it just showed "return processed" but no deposit date until literally the day before it arrived. My advice is to check your transcript once a week max, not daily like I was doing (it was driving me crazy). The good news is that once verification is complete, you're basically in the final stretch. Just try not to make any concrete financial plans based on a specific date because the IRS can be unpredictable even when everything looks normal.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this during health issues! Just to clarify one thing - the "as of" date on your transcript doesn't necessarily mean that's when it was last updated. It's actually a forward-looking date that the IRS system uses for processing purposes. So seeing April 17th with zeros doesn't mean nothing has happened since then - it's just how their system displays information during processing. I was absolutely devastated when I was in your position last year, but my refund did eventually come through after about 6 weeks post-verification. Hang in there! 💕

I completely understand your frustration with the all-zeros transcript situation! I went through ID.me verification about 8 months ago and had the exact same experience. The zeros showing on your transcript is actually a good sign - it means your return was received and is being held for identity verification, which you've now completed successfully. From my experience, the transcript won't show any movement until the verification fully processes through their system, then everything updates at once. The 1.5-2 week timeframe the IRS gave you is pretty standard, though it can sometimes take a bit longer depending on their current workload. One thing that helped me during the wait was knowing that once the transcript does update, the refund usually follows within a few days if you have direct deposit set up. I know it's especially stressful when you're dealing with medical expenses, but try to hang in there - the system just moves slowly but it does work eventually. Keep checking that transcript every few days and you should see movement soon! 🤞

Has anyone used TurboTax to input the PMI for a rental? I'm trying to figure out where exactly to put this and whether TurboTax automatically puts it on the right line of Schedule E or if I need to manually override something?

This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with the same situation - converted my primary residence to a rental last year and have been paying PMI the whole time. It's reassuring to see multiple confirmations that this is definitely deductible on Schedule E, line 9. One thing I'd add for anyone in a similar boat: make sure you check if your loan servicer is automatically including the PMI in your 1098 mortgage interest statement. Mine was lumping it all together, which made it confusing when trying to separate the actual mortgage interest from the PMI for tax purposes. I had to call them to get a breakdown so I could properly allocate each expense to the correct line on Schedule E. Also, if you're like me and missed claiming this deduction in previous years, it's definitely worth looking into filing amended returns. The three-year statute of limitations means you can still claim refunds for 2021, 2022, and 2023 if you didn't properly deduct your rental PMI.

I just searched through 3 different tax textbooks and NONE of them had a simple name for this stupid tax thing. How are regular people supposed to understand the tax code when even the "simplified" explanations are so complicated? And why does rental property depreciation get a special 25% rate anyway? Regular income can be taxed much higher, and normal capital gains much lower. The whole system seems designed to be confusing on purpose.

As someone who just went through this exact same confusion last year, I feel your pain! I ended up calling it "the rental property tax penalty" when explaining it to my family, which isn't technically accurate but gets the point across. What really helped me understand it was thinking of it this way: every year you owned that rental, you got to deduct depreciation from your taxes (whether you actually claimed it or not). That saved you money on your tax bill each year. Now when you sell at a profit, the IRS is basically saying "hey, remember all that money we let you save on taxes? We want a piece of that back." The 25% rate is actually better than if they taxed it as regular income (which could be much higher), but worse than regular capital gains rates. It's like a middle-ground compromise. For explaining to your spouse, I found it easiest to say: "It's a special tax on the depreciation benefits we got while owning the rental." Much simpler than the full legal terminology!