Filed amendment but worried about my refund - transcript shows code 977 and cycle 03

Tax professional here. Code 977 means that the IRS has received your amended return and is processing it. This code typically appears when they acknowledge receipt of your amendment. Being cycle 03 means your account updates on the third week of the processing cycle. Your tax preparer is correct - your original refund should still process separately from your amendment. The IRS generally processes the original return first and then handles the amendment as a separate action. The original refund should still come through on its normal timeline (usually 21 days from acceptance if e-filed), while the amendment can take 16-20 weeks to process. I recommend checking your transcripts weekly. Look for code 846 which will indicate your refund has been issued. If you don't see movement in the next 2-3 weeks on your original refund, you might want to contact the IRS directly.

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Cycle 03 means your account updates on Thursday nights. I'm cycle 05 and mine updates on weekends. The 977 is just acknowledgment of your amended return. Your original refund should still process normally. From what I've seen on these forums, most people still get their original refund as scheduled with amendments.

The IRS is such a mess right now. I amended in April and STILL haven't gotten anything processed. They're so backlogged from the pandemic. My tax guy said amendments are taking 6+ months in some cases. Good luck!

Just adding a data point - I had code 977 show up in June, got my original refund 9 days later, and the amendment finished processing about 14 weeks after that. So yes, your tax lady is right based on my experience!

I swear the IRS intentionally makes this stuff confusing. Why can't they just send a clear email saying "we received your amendment but we're still processing your original refund" like a normal organization would? 🙄

Check the Where's My Amended Return tool on the IRS website too. It can sometimes give you more info than just the transcript. But in my experience the tax preparer is right - your original refund should still come through normally.

Yeah I went thru this exact headache last year. The original refund will still come through on its original timeline in most cases. The 977 code is just letting you know they've received your amended return and are beginning to process it. They're separate processes - one doesn't stop the other usually.

I used to work as a tax preparer (not for the IRS). Your tax lady is mostly right, but there's a small chance they could freeze your original refund while processing the amendment. It depends on what you amended. If you're REDUCING your refund with the amendment, they might hold it. If you're INCREASING it, they'll usually send the original amount first, then the additional amount later.

Anyone saying the original refund will "definitely" still come through on time doesn't know what they're talking about. Sometimes amendments trigger a closer look at the original return. HOWEVER, most of the time they do process separately, so you're probably fine. Just pointing out there are no guarantees with the IRS.

Lol welcome to the IRS code puzzle game. Cycle 03 = your account updates on the 3rd workday of the week (Wednesday). The 977 code is just acknowledging they got your amendment. I had the exact same situation last year - got my original refund about 2 weeks after the 977 code appeared, then the amendment took another 4 months. The key is patience... so much patience... 😭

I spent hours online trying to understand my tax transcript and almost lost my mind. Then I discovered taxr.ai and it was like having a personal IRS translator. The AI actually explained each code in plain English and gave me a prediction of when I'd see my refund (which was accurate within 2 days!). Honestly wish I'd found it sooner! https://taxr.ai

from my own experience with amending, what ur tax preparer told u is accurate. the 977 code is just confirmation they got ur amendment. I still got my original refund about 3.5 weeks after filing, even though I amended like 10 days after filing. the amendment itself took forever tho (like 4 months).

Have you tried calling the IRS directly? You can ask them specifically about your original refund status. Last time I was in this situation I finally broke down and called. Took forever to get through but the agent confirmed my original refund was still processing normally despite the amendment.