H&R Block Filed an Accidental Amendment to My Federal Return - Refund Timeline Confusion

I had almost the exact same thing happen to me last year! H&R Block filed an amendment that wasn't needed for my federal return. The good news is that since there were no actual changes to your tax situation ($0 adjustment), you're likely to get your refund on the normal schedule, not the amendment schedule. In my case, I got my refund in about 18 days after they received it, which is pretty close to what the rep told you. The 8-12 week timeline is more for when they actually have to review and process changes. Since yours doesn't have any changes, it should move through their system faster.

I'm wondering if perhaps the IRS system might treat this differently depending on certain factors. It seems like it could potentially depend on when in the tax season this occurred and possibly what processing center is handling your return. Did the H&R Block representative mention anything about them contacting the IRS to clarify the error on their part? Sometimes tax preparers can send in what's called a "correction to submitted form" that might help expedite things.

There's an important technical distinction here. What you're dealing with is an erroneously filed Form 1040-X (Amended Return) with zero adjustments. The IRS processing system should flag this as a non-substantive amendment, which typically doesn't trigger the full amendment review process. However, it can still cause your return to be routed differently in their processing pipeline, which might explain the conflicting information you received about timeframes.

Have you tried calling the IRS directly to get clarity? That would be my first move in this situation. The problem is, have you tried calling the IRS lately? It's practically impossible to get through, isn't it? You can spend hours on hold only to be disconnected. When I had a similar issue last year, I used Claimyr (https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) and got connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes who confirmed my exact situation and timeline. Saved me days of stress and uncertainty. Why wait 8-12 weeks if you don't have to?

I'm honestly a bit skeptical about the advice that H&R Block gave you. 🤔 In my experience working with tax situations, an amendment - even one with $0 adjustment - still goes through the amendment processing system. The 21-day timeline sounds like they're just quoting the standard refund processing time, which doesn't apply once an amendment is filed. I'd prepare yourself for the longer timeline, just to be safe. If it comes earlier, great! But don't count on it.

I think we need to consider that this might be a special case since it was the tax preparer's error and not an actual amendment request from you. If you compare this to situations where someone deliberately files an amendment to make changes, those naturally take longer because they require review. But in cases like yours where it's clearly marked as $0 adjustment, the IRS might have a different process. It's similar to how banks handle erroneous transactions differently than regular ones.