IRS Refund Status Confusion: "Action Required" Alert Disappeared Before Letter Arrived - Should I Wait or Contact IRS?

I filed my 2023 taxes back in April. About two weeks after submitting, I checked Where's My Refund and it said "We have received your tax return and a refund date will be available soon." I kept checking and suddenly last week it changed to "Action Required" with a message saying they sent me a letter requesting more information and that I should respond following the instructions in the letter. When I checked the Refund Status Results page, I saw a big exclamation mark and "Action Required" in bold. The message specifically stated: "Please read the following information related to your tax situation. You may need to provide additional information to receive your full refund. We received your return and sent you a letter requesting more information. Please respond by following the instructions in the letter. If you don't respond, your refund amount could be changed. It may take 2-3 weeks for you to receive the letter." The page also had a "Helpful Information" section that directed me to Tax Topic 152, Refund Information. And at the bottom, it showed my personal tax information with Tax Year 2024 and Filing Status as Single. It mentioned it might take 2-3 weeks to receive this letter and referenced Tax Topic 152. Here's the weird part - I checked again today (about 5 days after seeing the Action Required) and now it's back to "We have received your tax return and a refund date will be available soon" with no mention of any letter or additional information needed. Does this mean the issue resolved itself? Has anyone experienced this? I haven't received any letter yet. Should I keep waiting or contact the IRS? I filed as Single if that matters.

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47 comments

Ravi Malhotra

This is actually pretty common with the IRS systems right now. What you're experiencing is likely a system update or correction happening on their end. When the IRS systems update (which usually happens overnight), sometimes temporary error messages or incorrect statuses appear. The fact that it went back to "refund date will be available soon" is generally a good sign. It likely means one of these things: 1) The system flagged your return incorrectly for review, then corrected itself 2) There was a brief system error showing the wrong message 3) Your return went through a quick verification process and passed I would recommend continuing to check WMR every few days. Also check your tax transcript if you have access - it often shows more detailed information than WMR. If you don't receive any letter within 3 weeks of when you first saw the "Action Required" message, you're probably fine. The reference to Tax Topic 152 isn't concerning - it's a general reference that appears for most returns being processed.

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- 24d

Omar Farouk

If your trying to figure out whats actually going on with your refund, I'd highly recommend using taxr.ai - I was in a similar situation with changing messages and going in circles with the IRS website. This website actually explains what's happening with your refund by analyzing your transcript. Way better than guessing or trying to decipher WMR messages that keep changing. I use it every time I have questions about my refund status now. It shows all the transcript codes and explains them in plain english. Check it out at https://taxr.ai

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Diego Chavez

I had the EXACT same thing happen. I was going crazy waiting for a letter that never came! After 3 weeks of checking WMR daily and getting nowhere, I finally used a calling app called claimyr.com that got me connected to a real IRS agent. The agent told me there was a system error and my return was processing normally - no letter was actually being sent! Got my refund about a week later. Seriously, if you're worried and need answers, this was the only way I could get through to a human. Best money I've spent this tax season.

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- 22d