IRS Tax Payment Refunded and Disappeared from Chase Bank Statement?

This happens more often than you'd think. When a payment fails or gets rejected, sometimes banks handle the transaction differently than a normal refund. Since the withdrawal caused an overdraft, Chase likely flagged the payment as potentially fraudulent or problematic, reversed it, but didn't process it as a standard refund in their system. Here's what you should do: First, call Chase customer service and ask them to check their backend systems for the transaction. They can see more details than what appears in your online banking portal. Ask specifically about "returned items" or "rejected payments" related to the IRS. Second, check your IRS online account (if you have one) to see if there's any record of a payment attempt. The IRS and banks don't always communicate instantly, so there might be a discrepancy in what each system shows. Don't worry too much about penalties yet. Document everything, including when you made the payment attempt and when you noticed it was missing. If the IRS does send a notice, you'll have your documentation ready.

I went through something similar last year and discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which really helped me sort out the confusion. My payment to the IRS disappeared from my bank statement too, and I was panicking about potential penalties. I uploaded my bank statements to taxr.ai and they analyzed the transaction history to identify exactly what happened with the payment. Their system found that the payment had actually been processed, reversed, and then processed again under a different transaction code that made it hard to identify in my regular statement. They generated a detailed report showing the transaction flow that I could use as documentation for both the bank and the IRS.

Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai after my initial skepticism. I had a similar situation with a missing tax payment from Bank of America. After uploading my statements, they identified that my payment had been processed as an "ACH Return" with code R01 (insufficient funds) but then was reprocessed under a different transaction ID three days later. The report showed the exact routing of the payment including timestamps and trace numbers that weren't visible in my regular online banking. This saved me hours of phone calls with both the bank and IRS. The visualization of the transaction flow made it super clear what happened, and I was able to confirm the payment was actually received by the IRS despite not showing correctly in my bank account.

If you're having trouble getting answers from Chase or the IRS, I highly recommend using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to actually get through to a human at the IRS. I wasted days trying to get through their phone system before finding this service. They basically hold your place in line and call you when an agent is about to pick up. I was dealing with a disappeared payment too, and needed to confirm whether the IRS had received it. Normally you'd wait 2+ hours on hold, but with Claimyr I got through in about 20 minutes. You can see a demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent was able to check their system and confirm they had received the payment even though it wasn't showing in my bank account anymore. Turns out there was a processing code error that caused the bank to display it incorrectly.

I need to apologize for my skepticism about Claimyr. After my frustrated comment, I decided to try it anyway since I was desperate to talk to someone at the IRS about my missing payment. I scheduled a call through their system for later that afternoon. I honestly couldn't believe it when I got a call back saying an IRS agent was about to pick up. The whole process took about 35 minutes instead of the 3+ hours I spent the day before getting nowhere. The IRS agent confirmed my payment had been received but was coded differently in their system due to the initial rejection and reprocessing. This saved me from paying the same tax bill twice and potentially having to deal with getting a refund later. I'm usually not one to recommend services, but this genuinely saved me hours of frustration.

This happened to me two years ago. Call Chase first - most likely the payment got flagged in their fraud detection system. What happens is when a payment causes an overdraft, their system sometimes automatically reverses it but doesn't always show the reversal properly in your transaction history. Ask them specifically about "payment returns" or "ACH reversals" - those sometimes don't appear in the regular transaction view. The customer service rep might need to check a different system to see these.

Check if your payment went through EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System) or if it was through Chase's bill pay. Those are processed differently. EFTPS payments show up on your EFTPS account history even if they're not showing in your bank account. You might also want to look at your available balance vs posted balance in Chase. Sometimes pending transactions don't appear in your transaction history but still affect your available balance.

This is actually a pretty common issue with Chase's payment processing system. I work in banking operations and see this regularly - when a payment causes an overdraft, Chase's fraud detection system sometimes automatically reverses the transaction but doesn't always display it clearly in your online banking history. The key thing to understand is that the payment likely did get processed initially, but then got reversed due to insufficient funds. However, Chase's system doesn't always show these reversals in a clear way in your transaction history, which is why it looks like the payment just "disappeared." Here's what I'd recommend: Call Chase and ask them to check for any "R01" return codes on your account from that date. R01 is the ACH return code for insufficient funds. They should be able to see this in their backend system even if it's not showing in your online account. Get the trace number if they find it. Then, check your IRS online account or call them to see if they have any record of the payment attempt. Sometimes the IRS receives notification of the failed payment and will show it as "returned" rather than never received. Don't panic about penalties yet - you have documentation that you attempted to pay (the overdraft fee proves money was withdrawn), and as long as you get this sorted out quickly, the IRS is usually understanding about technical payment failures.

I've been through this exact scenario with Chase! The "disappearing transaction" issue is usually related to how their system handles failed ACH payments. When a payment gets reversed due to insufficient funds, Chase sometimes removes it from your regular transaction view entirely instead of showing it as a separate reversal entry. Here's what worked for me: Log into your Chase account and look for a "Pending Transactions" or "Account Activity" section that might show more detailed transaction history. Sometimes these reversed payments show up there even when they're not in your main transaction list. Also, check if you received any email notifications from Chase about the failed payment - they usually send automated emails when ACH payments are returned, even if the transaction disappears from your online view. The good news is that since you have the overdraft fee as proof that money was initially withdrawn, you have documentation that you attempted to make the payment on time. The IRS typically doesn't penalize taxpayers for legitimate payment processing failures as long as you can demonstrate you made a good faith effort to pay by the deadline. I'd recommend calling Chase first to get the technical details about what happened to the transaction, then use that information when you contact the IRS to explain the situation.

I just want to add another perspective here - I've been dealing with tax payments for years and this kind of "vanishing transaction" issue has become more common since banks upgraded their fraud detection systems post-2020. What likely happened is that your payment triggered multiple red flags: the overdraft situation, the large amount going to a government entity, and possibly the timing if it was close to the tax deadline when fraud attempts spike. Chase's system probably auto-reversed it as a protective measure. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet - make sure to document everything with screenshots and dates. Even though the transaction disappeared from your online view, take a screenshot of your current account history showing the overdraft fee but missing payment. This creates a timeline that proves the payment was attempted. Also, when you call Chase, ask them to email you a summary of what they find about the transaction. Having that in writing will be invaluable if you need to dispute anything with the IRS later. Banks are usually willing to provide written confirmation of payment processing issues when you explain it's for tax purposes. The silver lining is that this happened early enough in the year that you have time to sort it out before any serious penalties would kick in. Most people don't discover these issues until they're already facing collection notices.