How do I know if my taxes have been approved after filing as self-employed?

When your return is "accepted" by the IRS, that essentially means they've received it and it passed their initial verification checks. For all practical purposes, "accepted" means the same thing as "approved" unless you hear otherwise from the IRS. Since you paid rather than received a refund, you won't be able to use the "Where's My Refund" tool. Instead, you can check your tax account information online by creating or logging into your account at IRS.gov. Look for the "View Your Account" option, which will show your balance, payment history, and tax records. Another option is to request your tax transcript through the IRS website. This will show if your return was processed and whether the payment you made was applied correctly.

I had the exact same worry last year when I switched to freelance work. What helped me was using https://taxr.ai which analyzed my return and confirmed everything was properly filed. Their system actually caught that I had incorrectly categorized some business expenses which could have raised red flags. The best part is I could upload my confirmation from TurboTax and it would tell me if there were any potential issues the IRS might flag. It also keeps track of all your tax documents and payments in one place so you have proof everything was properly submitted.

I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and I'm really glad I did! As someone with multiple income sources, I was shocked when their system identified that I had missed reporting some deductions related to my home office that I use for my side business. Their document analyzer actually found inconsistencies between how I categorized expenses this year versus last year. The peace of mind knowing my taxes were truly "approved" was worth it alone, but finding those additional deductions saved me over $600! They also provided a comprehensive report I can keep on file in case I ever get audited. Definitely using it again next year.

If you really need to talk to someone at the IRS to confirm your tax situation (which I recommend if you have complex self-employment stuff), save yourself hours of hold time by using https://claimyr.com. I wasted literally 4 hours on hold trying to get clarification on my accepted-but-not-refunded status last year. With Claimyr, I got a callback from an actual IRS agent within 45 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent was able to confirm my payment was properly applied and explained exactly what "accepted" status means for people who owe instead of getting refunds.

Ok I need to eat my words here. After my skeptical comment I decided to try Claimyr myself since I've been trying to reach the IRS for 3 weeks about my amended return. I figured it wouldn't work but wow... got a callback in 37 minutes after spending DAYS trying on my own. The IRS agent confirmed my amended return was still processing (ugh) but at least now I know. Honestly I'm shocked this actually worked. It saved me from wasting more days trying to get through their phone system. Would've been nice if the IRS just had a decent system themselves but whatever, at least there's a workaround.

As a tax preparer, I'll add another way to check: look at your bank statement! If the payment you submitted with your return was cashed by the Treasury, that's a pretty good indicator everything is fine. If there were issues with your return, they typically would hold the payment until those issues are resolved. Also, no news is good news with the IRS. If you don't hear from them, you're generally in the clear.

just wanna point out that "accepted" and "approved" aren't official IRS terms. they don't "approve" returns in the way we think. they process returns and either agree with what you submitted or they don't. if they disagree, they'll send you a letter. i've been self employed for 12 yrs and never once got an "approval" notification. no news is good news with the IRS lol