I filed on February 13th, 2024 and was in the same situation until March 30th. What worked for me was requesting a Tax Return Transcript instead of an Account Transcript. For some reason, my Return Transcript showed up first, even though everyone says it should be the opposite. Also, check your transcript between 3-6am on Wednesdays and Thursdays - that's when the IRS system typically updates according to the cycle codes. I noticed my transcript finally appeared at 4:27am on a Thursday morning after showing N/A for weeks. If you're desperate and need your refund for bills, you might consider applying for the Taxpayer Advocate Service. They can help if you're facing financial hardship due to refund delays.

I was in this exact situation last year. Filed February 12th, 2023 and had absolutely nothing on my transcript until March 28th. I remember checking obsessively every day and driving myself crazy. What I learned from that experience: IRS processing doesn't follow any logical pattern we can discern. Some people who filed after me got their refunds weeks earlier. This year I filed February 15th, 2024, and had the same empty transcript situation until yesterday. Suddenly everything updated at once, and my direct deposit is scheduled for April 17th. No explanation for the delay, no issues with my return. My advice based on two years of this: the system works eventually, just not on any timeline that makes sense to us mere mortals.

This is total BS. The IRS and these tax prep companies can't get their stories straight. I bet if you called the IRS directly they'd give you a THIRD different date. I had this exact issue last year and spent weeks trying to figure out which date was correct. Turns out NONE of them were! The IRS had a completely different internal date they were working from.

According to the IRS Processing Guidelines (available at irs.gov/refunds/processing-timeline), what you're experiencing is normal, especially for returns with self-employment income. The IRS systems and third-party processors like TPG often show different dates because they're tracking different events in the process. Based on the IRS2Go app forums and IRS Refund Status threads on Reddit, many self-employed filers are seeing similar patterns this year. The disappearing bars on WMR typically indicate your return has moved to the next processing stage. According to historical patterns, most returns in your situation receive their refund within 7-14 days after this status change.

Have you checked your actual tax transcript, not just the code? Sometimes the transcript contains information that WMR doesn't show. Is it possible you're looking at an account transcript instead of a return transcript? What if you tried using a tool like https://taxr.ai to analyze your transcript? It can often identify patterns that indicate whether you need to verify or if it's just a standard processing delay. I've found transcript analysis to be much more reliable than the WMR tool, especially during peak filing season when the system gets overwhelmed with generic messages.

According to the IRS website, if you need to verify your identity, you'll receive Letter 5071C, 5747C, or 5447C. If you haven't received any of these letters, the WMR message might be generic. I had this happen last year - WMR said verification needed but no letter came. After waiting three weeks, my refund was suddenly approved without me doing anything. The system is overloaded right now and showing lots of standard messages that don't actually apply. Just keep checking your mail and transcript daily.

I'm feeling your frustration! I had the EXACT same issue last year with Credit Karma and a TurboTax advance. After four days of nothing showing up, I was so worried! I finally used Claimyr (https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) to get through to an actual IRS agent instead of waiting on hold for hours. I was literally in tears when they told me my refund had been sent but was held by the bank for processing because of the advance. The agent was able to confirm everything was fine and gave me the exact timeline. Such a relief!

Isn't it interesting how the tax refund system works differently for different people? I've noticed that when you get an advance, the final refund process follows a different path. Have you considered that your refund might be processed differently because of the advance? In my experience, the advance creates an extra verification step that can add 1-3 days to the process, but rarely causes actual problems. It's just a matter of patience at this point.

Have you contacted your tax preparer about this? I'm wondering if they could provide you with the exact amount that was submitted to the IRS on your behalf. Did they perhaps take out their fee from the refund, making the amount they told you different from what's actually on your tax documents?

Just to clarify what everyone is saying - the amount you need for WMR is from line 35a on Form 1040 of your tax return. I filed on February 3rd and made this exact mistake. The amount my preparer told me included their fee already deducted. When I finally checked my actual return on February 15th and used the correct amount, WMR worked immediately and showed my refund was already approved and scheduled for deposit on February 20th. I had been unnecessarily worried for almost two weeks!