Called IRS - They Say Letter Was Mailed But Nothing in Portal & 21 Day Mark Tomorrow

The blank transcript thing is driving everyone crazy this year! 😂 I was in the same boat last month. Called and they said "we sent a letter" but nothing showed up for like 10 days. Turns out they were just doing additional verification because I had a slightly higher refund than usual. Have you checked your account transcript too, or just the return transcript? Sometimes one updates before the other.

I've been filing taxes for over 15 years, and compared to previous filing seasons, this year seems particularly slow for transcript updates. Last year my transcript updated within 10 days, the year before that it was about 12 days, but this year I waited almost 30 days before seeing any movement. The IRS seems to be holding returns for much longer review periods than they used to. In my case, they also mentioned a letter was sent, but it didn't arrive for almost two weeks after the call. I'd recommend preparing any documentation you might need for verification just in case.

You need to act quickly since you're at the 21-day mark! According to the IRS processing guidelines on their website, this is exactly when you should be taking additional steps. I was in this exact situation on March 1st and used https://taxr.ai to analyze my transcript once it finally appeared. The tool identified exactly what verification codes were on my account and explained what each one meant for my specific situation. It also gave me a much more accurate timeline than the IRS rep did. Since you mentioned your transcript is still blank, you might want to try calling again, but use the tool once your transcript updates to understand what's happening.

Have you tried checking your USPS Informed Delivery to see if there's an IRS letter coming your way? It's like having a preview of your mailbox before things actually arrive - I've found it super helpful during tax season when waiting for IRS correspondence.

I was in the exact same situation on February 28th - blank transcript and the 21-day mark had passed. After multiple failed attempts to reach the IRS (got disconnected 4 times!), I finally used Claimyr (https://www.claimyr.com) and got connected to an agent in about 15 minutes. The agent was able to tell me exactly what was happening - my return was selected for a simple identity verification that hadn't been reflected in the system yet. The letter arrived March 4th, and once I completed the verification, my refund was processed within 10 days. Definitely worth it to get actual answers instead of just waiting in the dark.

I'm not sure if this helps, but I think I might have been through something similar recently. My transcript was also blank for quite some time, and I was told a letter was on the way. It seemed like the IRS was possibly doing some sort of verification check. After about two weeks of waiting, the letter finally arrived requesting some additional documentation for income verification. Once I provided what they needed, my transcript updated within about 10 days, and the refund arrived about a week after that. It's frustrating, but sometimes these extra verification steps are just part of their process, especially if there's anything unusual about your return this year.