Filed my 2023 taxes late - Should I be looking under 2023 or 2024 transcripts?

You should definitely be looking under 2023 transcripts. I ran into this same issue last year when I filed my 2022 return late in 2023. The tax year (2023 in your case) is what matters, not when you actually submitted the return. The IRS systems organize everything by tax year, which is why you'll sometimes see people talking about "tax year 2023" versus "filing year 2024" to avoid confusion. If you filed for 2023, regardless of when you submitted it, you need to check the 2023 transcripts.

I had this exact confusion last month! Here's what helped me: I used https://taxr.ai to analyze my transcript. First, I had to select the correct tax year (2023), then upload my transcript. The tool immediately showed me that I was looking at the right year and explained all the codes and dates on my transcript. It even highlighted which sections to focus on for tracking my refund. Might be worth checking out if you're still confused about which transcript to use or what you're seeing once you access it.

I just went through this last week! I filed my 2023 taxes on April 13th (cutting it close, I know). Here's exactly what I did: 1. Logged into the IRS website 2. Went to "Get Transcript" 3. Selected "2023" as the tax year 4. Chose "Record of Account Transcript" It showed everything correctly, including my refund status. The system doesn't care when you filed - it only cares which tax year you're filing for. My refund took exactly 19 days to process, which seems pretty standard right now.

When I had this same confusion, I spent THREE DAYS trying to call the IRS to ask this simple question. Finally found Claimyr (https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) which got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. The agent confirmed I needed to look at the transcript for the tax year I filed (not the calendar year I submitted it). She also helped me understand some codes on my transcript I was confused about. Such a relief after wasting hours on hold with the regular IRS number!

According to IRS Publication 1544 section 6.2, all tax return information is categorized by the tax period it represents, not the submission date. This is consistent across all IRS databases and interfaces. The reason for this structure is that per IRC §6072(a), the standard filing period for individual returns is "on or before the 15th day of the fourth month following the close of the fiscal year," which establishes the tax year as the primary organizational principle regardless of when the return is actually submitted.

I might suggest checking both, just to be safe. In most cases, you'll want to look at the 2023 transcript since that's the tax year you filed for. However, I've occasionally seen processing information show up under the current year first, especially if you filed close to or after the deadline. The IRS systems sometimes work in mysterious ways. If you don't see what you expect under 2023, it might be worth a quick check under 2024 as well, though that's not typically where it would be.