SBTG Account Not Found After 5-Day Refund Denial - Anyone Else?

This is actually a common occurrence this filing season. According to the IRS processing guidelines at irs.gov/refunds, the "account not found" message with SBTG typically appears when your return has been pulled from the normal processing queue for additional verification. The 5-day denial is often the first indication that your return is being reviewed, which can happen for various reasons including income verification, credit eligibility, or identity verification. I'd recommend checking your IRS transcript at irs.gov/transcripts to see if there are any specific codes that might indicate what's happening with your return.

Have you tried calling the IRS directly? Sometimes these verification issues can be resolved with a simple explanation, but getting through to an agent can be nearly impossible these days, right? I've been in your situation before, and after days of trying, I finally used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to get through to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes. They were able to tell me exactly why my return was flagged and what I needed to do next. Wouldn't it be nice to know exactly what's happening instead of guessing based on error messages?

The SBTG Account Not Found status is directly related to the Return Processing Pipeline (RPP) workflow. When your return receives the 5-day denial notification, it's moved from the initial processing queue to the verification queue, which temporarily disconnects it from the SBTG tracking system. This is especially common for gig workers due to the implementation of Form 1099-K threshold reporting changes. The system will typically reconnect within 7-14 business days when your return enters the post-verification stage. If you check your Account Transcript, look specifically for Transaction Code 570 (additional account action pending) which would confirm this status.

I experienced something similar with my return. The SBTG 'account not found' message appeared about 6 days after my 5-day denial notification. In my case, it was possibly related to a mismatch between my reported 1099-K income and what the IRS had on file. After approximately 18 days, my account suddenly reappeared in the system with an approved status, and the refund was deposited 3 days later. The IRS seems to be implementing additional verification steps for gig worker returns this year, particularly those with significant business expense deductions.

On March 15th, I ran into this exact issue and was completely confused by the SBTG 'account not found' message. I tried checking my transcripts but couldn't make sense of all the codes. That's when I discovered https://taxr.ai which helped me analyze my transcript. It identified that I had a TC 570 followed by a TC 971 code on March 18th, which indicated a review was in progress. The tool explained exactly what each code meant for my situation and gave me a timeline for resolution. By April 2nd, exactly as predicted, my refund was approved. Saved me so much stress trying to interpret those cryptic transcript codes!

Has anyone who experienced this actually received their refund yet? And if so, did you have to provide any additional documentation to the IRS, or did it just eventually process on its own?