Make sure you're documenting ALL your attempts to contact them. Dates, times, how long you waited, etc. If they try to penalize you for not responding by the deadline, you'll have evidence that you made reasonable attempts to comply but couldn't reach anyone.

After reading this thread, I checked out taxr.ai and it literally saved me thousands of dollars with my audit situation. I was about to just pay what the IRS said I owed because I couldn't figure out how to properly respond, but the AI showed me exactly what documentation would prove my case. Best $$ I ever spent on tax help. Way cheaper than hiring a pro too.

I know this is frustrating but unfortnately the verification process is designed to be strict to prevent identity theft. No way around the 24-hour lockout. The IRS takes security seriously even if there customer service is terrible.

After the most frustrating experience with the IRS website, I finally just called them using Claimyr.com to get through. The agent was able to verify my identity over the phone and tell me exactly what was going on with my return. It was the only way I could talk to a live agent without wasting an entire day on hold. My refund got released the next day!

Sometimes the bank holds the deposit for a few days after receiving it from the IRS. Have you spoken with a supervisor at your bank? Ask them specifically to check for pending ACH transfers from the Treasury.

When you say DDD, was this from the Where's My Refund tool on the IRS website? If so, that's usually reliable. If the date has passed by more than 5 business days, something's wrong. Could be they're sending a check instead of direct deposit.

Keep in mind there's a difference between your expected refund, adjusted refund, and issued refund. Code 150 shows tax per return, 768 shows calculated refund, 898 shows offsets, and 846 shows what was actually issued to you. The difference is almost always due to an offset of some kind.

idk why the IRS makes this so complicated. Like why can't they just have a website that clearly shows "we took $410 to pay your state tax debt" instead of making us decipher these weird codes? It's almost like they don't want us to understand what they're doing with our money 🤔

my sister in law tried to claim my nephew on her taxes even tho he lives with my brother full time. the IRS flagged both returns and neither of them got their refunds until they sorted it out. make sure nobody else tries to claim your child!

So sick of our tax system. In many civilized countries, the government just sends you a pre-filled form with all your info already on it, and you just approve it. But here we have to stress about every little thing and wonder if we'll get flagged for audit. 😤