How long does it take to receive a tax refund deposit after e-filing with a library tax preparer?

E-filed tax returns typically take 21 days to process, though many people receive their refunds sooner. Four days is definitely too early to be concerned! The IRS needs time to accept your return, process it, and then issue the refund. Here's what's probably happening: - First 24-48 hours: Your return is being transmitted and accepted by the IRS - Next 5-7 days: The IRS processes your return and approves the refund - Final 5-7 days: The Treasury issues the payment (direct deposit or check) You can check your refund status using the "Where's My Refund" tool on the IRS website or through the IRS2Go app. You'll need your Social Security number, filing status, and exact refund amount to check. The tool updates once daily, usually overnight. VITA volunteers provide a great service, and the processing time isn't any different than if you'd paid someone to prepare your taxes.

I was in the same boat last month getting antsy about my refund! I actually found this site called https://taxr.ai that helped me track everything and understand what was happening with my return. It basically analyzed my tax docs and gave me a timeline for when I should expect my refund based on current IRS processing times. The cool thing was it showed me exactly what was happening at each stage of processing. For me, it took about 10 days from e-filing to see the deposit, but the site mentioned it can take up to 21 days for normal processing. It also showed me that my return was in the "approved" status for like 4 days before the money actually hit my account.

I was totally wrong about taxr.ai in my earlier comment. I decided to try it anyway out of desperation since my refund was taking forever and the IRS refund tool was just showing "processing" for weeks. The site actually helped me figure out that there was a discrepancy between my reported W-2 income and what my employer submitted to the IRS (off by $212). I was able to contact my employer and get it fixed. Within a week after resolving this, my refund was approved! Without the detailed analysis, I might have been waiting months without knowing why it was delayed. The timeline predictions were pretty accurate too. The site estimated 14-16 days for my return, and it ended up being 15 days from filing to deposit once the issue was fixed.

If you're concerned about your refund status, you might want to try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I used it after waiting 6 weeks for my refund with no updates on the IRS website. I was going crazy trying to reach someone at the IRS - spent hours on hold only to get disconnected. Claimyr got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes! The agent told me my return had been flagged for a minor verification issue that I could resolve over the phone. They have this cool video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c After that call, my refund was processed within a week. Definitely worth it rather than stressing about what might be happening with your return.

I've got to eat crow on this one. After dismissing Claimyr as BS in my previous comment, my tax refund was stuck in limbo for 2 months with the "still processing" message on the IRS site. In desperation, I tried the service. Got connected to an IRS rep in 25 minutes while I was making dinner! Turns out there was an issue with my address verification that needed to be cleared up. The agent fixed it while I was on the call, and my refund was approved the next day. Got the deposit 5 days later. I still think it's ridiculous that this service needs to exist at all (the IRS should have better staffing), but I can't argue with results. Saved me weeks or months of additional waiting.

In my experience, library tax preparers through VITA are great, but sometimes they might enter the wrong bank info or miss something small that delays things. Did they give you a copy of your return? Double-check that your direct deposit info is correct. If there's an error with routing or account numbers, that could really delay things. Also, if your return includes certain credits like Earned Income Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit, the IRS legally can't issue your refund before mid-February, no matter when you filed.

Has anyone tried using TurboTax to track refunds? Their app has some kind of refund tracking feature but I'm not sure if it's any better than the IRS site.