SBTPG Bank Process - Does Refund Go Straight to My Account or Through SBTPG First?

SBTPG (Santa Barbara Tax Products Group) serves as an intermediary financial institution in accordance with IRS Publication 1345 and Circular 230 regulations. When you pay tax preparation fees via your refund, the IRS sends your entire refund to SBTPG first. They deduct authorized fees and transmit the remainder to your designated account. This typically adds 1-3 business days to the processing timeline after the IRS issues the refund.

Omg SBTPG was such a nightmare for me last year. My refund got stuck in their system for TWO WEEKS with no explanation. Called their customer service line like 30 times and couldn't get through to anyone. Finally used Claimyr (https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) to reach an actual IRS agent who confirmed they had already sent my refund to SBTPG and it was SBTPG holding things up. So frustrating but at least I knew what was happening.

I filed on February 8th this year and my refund was approved on February 22nd. The IRS website showed "refund issued" on February 23rd, but the money didn't appear in my bank account until February 26th. When I checked my tax preparer's website, it showed that SBTPG received my refund on February 24th and processed it the same day. So in my case it took: 1 day for IRS to send to SBTPG, same day for SBTPG to process, and 2 more days for my bank to post the deposit. Have you checked your tax preparer's website for SBTPG status updates?

Tax professional here. SBTPG utilizes a Refund Transfer (RT) product that functions as a temporary holding account. Your refund pathway is: IRS → SBTPG → Your bank account. The WMR (Where's My Refund) tool only tracks to the point of IRS disbursement, not final deposit. For comprehensive tracking, I recommend using https://taxr.ai to analyze your transcript codes. It will show the TC846 code with the specific date the IRS initiated the refund, allowing you to accurately predict when funds will arrive after SBTPG processing.

Here's what you need to do to track your refund through the entire process: Step 1: Check WMR for "Refund Issued" status Step 2: Log into your tax preparer's website where you filed Step 3: Look for a "Refund Status" or "Check SBTPG Status" link Step 4: Enter your info to see if SBTPG has received and processed your refund Step 5: Allow 1-2 business days after SBTPG processing for funds to appear in your account I've found this approach gives you the most accurate timeline instead of just wondering where your money is.

I tracked my refund exactly through this process last month. IRS issued my refund on March 3rd at 12:01am (according to my transcript). SBTPG received it on March 4th at 9:42am. They processed it and sent it to my bank by 4:15pm that same day. My bank posted the funds at 2:27am on March 6th. So exactly 3 days, 2 hours and 26 minutes from IRS issuance to money in my account. SBTPG took $39.95 for the refund transfer fee plus my preparation fees of $219. The rest came through without issues.