Yellow Alert on H&R Block Federal Refund Status Showing PATH Act Impact (Feb 2025) - What Does This Mean?

The refund tracker shows your return was successfully e-filed and accepted, but both federal and state refunds are currently in "pending" status as of February 16, 2025. The yellow exclamation mark (!) next to your federal refund is specifically related to the PATH Act restrictions, which typically affects returns claiming Earned Income Credit (EIC) or Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC). The PATH Act requires the IRS to hold these refunds until mid-February as an anti-fraud measure. While February 15th is technically the release date, the actual deposit of funds usually takes a few additional business days to process. According to the tracker, H&R Block updates their status information daily at 9AM CST, and there were no new updates on the check date. Your state refund is also showing as pending, but without any warning symbols, which is normal as state processing is independent of federal PATH Act restrictions. The presence of both federal and state anticipated refund amounts (though specific amounts are redacted in the image) indicates your return was processed properly and is simply awaiting standard review and release procedures.

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The yellow mark showed up for me too, but my refund hit my account this morning! hang in there

clowns at the IRS making us wait while they sit on our money 🤡

mine had that last year. took exactly 21 days after acceptance to get the $$$

has anyone actually called H&R Block about this??? their customer service is useless af

The PATH Act delay is totally normal if you claimed EIC or ACTC - that yellow exclamation is just H&R Block's way of flagging PATH Act holds. Since your return was accepted and we're past Feb 15th, you should see movement in the next few business days. The IRS batch processes these releases so it's not instant even after the hold period ends. Keep checking WMR directly too since sometimes the IRS updates faster than third-party trackers.

Just wanted to add that the yellow alert is basically H&R Block's visual indicator for PATH Act delays - nothing to worry about! I had the exact same thing last year and my refund came through exactly 21 days after acceptance. The PATH Act requires the IRS to hold refunds with EIC/ACTC until at least February 15th, but even after that date it can take 3-5 business days for the actual deposit to hit your account. Since you were accepted and we're now past the 15th, you're probably in that final processing window. Keep an eye on both H&R Block's tracker and the IRS Where's My Refund tool - sometimes one updates before the other!