I've been in your shoes and found a solution that actually works! The IRS phone system is basically the final boss of annoying phone trees 😂. I used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) last month when I was in the same situation and it got me connected to an actual human being in about 25 minutes instead of spending days trying to get through. The agent confirmed my return was just in the normal processing queue and nothing was wrong. Totally worth it for the peace of mind alone. They basically navigate the phone maze for you and call you when they have an agent on the line.

Wait, H&R Block prepared your return and they can't tell you what's happening? That's surprising. Here's what you should do: 1. First, create an account on IRS.gov if you don't have one already 2. Pull your tax transcript (this shows backend processing) 3. Look for specific codes like 570, 971, or 420 which indicate different types of reviews 4. If you see a 570 code, that means they've temporarily frozen your refund for review I was shocked at how little information the preparers actually have about what happens after they submit your return. They basically just see the same WMR status you do.

I'm going through this exact same thing right now and I'm so stressed about it! 😫 I repaid about $4,200 in unemployment from 2023 but my 1099-G shows the full amount and I'm terrified I'm going to get audited if I don't report it correctly. I called my state's unemployment office THREE times and got different answers each time about how to handle it on my taxes. One person said I'd get an amended 1099-G (never came), another said to just report the difference, and a third said to report it all as income and then deduct it. I'm literally losing sleep over this!

Have you contacted your state unemployment office to request a corrected 1099-G? Some states will issue a corrected form that shows the net amount after repayment, which would make this much simpler. If they won't do that, did they provide any documentation of your repayment that you could include with your tax return? Also, how much did you repay - was it the entire amount or just a portion?

When my mom passed last year, I was in a similar situation with needing my refund for funeral costs. After weeks of trying to reach someone at the IRS with no luck, I used Claimyr.com to get through to an agent in about 15 minutes. They were able to expedite my refund due to hardship. Sometimes just getting a human on the phone makes all the difference when you're dealing with something urgent. Glad you found the help you needed here!

This community helped me figure out my offset issues last year too. The regular IRS phone lines are basically useless during tax season, but someone here pointed me to the right department to call. Got my issue resolved in one call instead of weeks of runaround. Congrats on your refund!

Be extremely careful with Form 4868 extension requests! If you underestimate your tax liability significantly, the IRS can invalidate your extension retroactively. This happened to a client of mine who estimated owing $1,200 but actually owed $6,800. The IRS assessed a failure-to-file penalty of $1,275 plus interest compounded daily. Always err on the side of overpayment if there's any uncertainty in your tax situation.

Has anyone here filed an extension while living abroad? I'm wondering if the process is different for someone who qualifies for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion compared to someone like you who's newly arrived in the US?

Per Internal Revenue Manual 21.5.6.4.7, EITC claims require additional verification procedures before refund issuance. For Tax Year 2023 returns, the IRS implemented enhanced due diligence under IRC §6695(g), requiring income and relationship verification for certain EITC claims. In practical terms, this means approximately 35% of EITC returns are selected for Income Document Matching, which typically adds 14-21 days to processing time. If your return shows code 1242 on your account transcript, you're in this verification queue.

I've claimed EITC for five years straight and this is the longest I've ever waited. Filed January 28th and just got my deposit yesterday! What's interesting is how the system seems completely random - my sister filed a week after me with almost identical circumstances (same employer, similar income, both claim one dependent) and she got her refund two weeks ago. Doesn't the IRS use some kind of automated system? How can two nearly identical returns have such different timelines?