Refund Approved and Mailed on March 12th - Still Haven't Received It

According to IRS Publication 17, Section 1.9, "Allow at least 4 weeks for a refund check to arrive by mail." Despite what the system may indicate about the mailing date, the actual processing and physical mailing can take several additional business days beyond the stated date. Per Internal Revenue Manual 21.4.1, paper checks must go through Treasury Department printing protocols which can add 5-7 business days before entering USPS circulation. I'm a bit concerned that you're approaching but haven't quite hit the 4-week threshold yet.

I went through exactly the same situation this year. Here's what I learned from my experience: Step 1: Check your transcript on the IRS website to confirm the refund was actually issued. Sometimes the status can be misleading. Step 2: Look for code 846 with the date your refund was issued. Step 3: If you're having trouble understanding your transcript, try https://taxr.ai - it helped me decode my transcript and explained that my refund was actually rescheduled with a later date than what WMR showed. Step 4: If your transcript confirms the March 12th date, then you should start considering the possibility of mail delivery issues. I was so relieved when I finally understood what was happening with my refund instead of checking the mailbox every day!

This is frustratingly common with paper checks. Unlike direct deposit which typically arrives within 48 hours of the refund date, paper checks can take 2-4 weeks despite what the IRS says. When I had this same problem last year, I spent 3 days trying to reach the IRS to start a payment trace. Finally used Claimyr (https://www.claimyr.com) and got through in about 15 minutes. The agent confirmed my check was actually mailed 5 days after the "mail date" on WMR and started a payment trace since it had been over 4 weeks. Much better than the 2+ hours I spent on redial before that.

Have you perhaps recently moved or updated your address with USPS? In some cases, the IRS might possibly be using an older address that doesn't match your current residence. It might be worth checking, if applicable, whether your mail forwarding is working properly, or if there could potentially be an issue with your address format that's causing delivery complications?

Did you verify that your Adjusted Gross Income matches what the IRS has on file? Sometimes discrepancies in AGI can trigger a manual review, which might delay your refund despite the WMR status showing as mailed. Have you checked your tax transcript for TC 570/571 codes that might indicate a hold was placed and then released?

I should perhaps mention that the IRS has been experiencing some, shall we say, delays in their check printing process this year. There might be a discrepancy between when their system marks a refund as "mailed" versus when the Treasury Department actually prints and sends the check. In some cases, we've seen delays of up to 10-14 days between these two events. Additionally, I believe it might be prudent to note that USPS delivery times have been somewhat inconsistent in certain regions. If you're approaching the four-week mark since your stated mail date, you may want to consider initiating a payment trace through the IRS.

Had this exact issue. Called IRS after 4 weeks. They confirmed check was actually mailed. Started payment trace. Check arrived next day. Sometimes system updates before physical mailing occurs. Be patient. Almost there. Keep checking informed delivery.

Has anyone else noticed that the IRS seems to say checks are "mailed" before they actually hand them over to USPS? My refund was supposedly mailed on February 24th but didn't arrive until March 18th! I checked informed delivery every single day and was getting so anxious. Should I call them to ask what's happening? What if it got lost? How long should I wait before panicking?