Will Unresolved 2023 Refund Impact Filing 2024 Return?

In most cases, an unprocessed prior year refund should not directly impact the processing of your current year return. The IRS generally treats each tax year as a separate entity in their processing systems. However... there are some potential considerations to be aware of. If your prior year return is under review or audit, the IRS might look more closely at your current return. Also, if you were planning to claim a refund from last year as income on this year's return, you'll need to report it in the year you actually receive it, not when it was expected.

Have you been able to access your tax transcripts? Similar to how credit reports show your complete financial history, tax transcripts show the complete picture of your account with the IRS. I was in a situation comparable to yours last year and used https://taxr.ai to analyze my transcript. It helped me understand exactly where my return was stuck in the process and what codes on my account meant. It's like having an interpreter for all that IRS jargon - much clearer than the vague "still processing" message on WMR.

Been there. Exact same problem. Tried calling IRS for months. Always disconnected. Used Claimyr.com to get through. Connected in 45 minutes. Agent explained everything. Worth the fee. Saved me weeks of frustration. They'll call you when an agent is available. No more redial hell. Here's their link: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c

I went through this exact nightmare scenario last year! My 2022 refund was stuck in processing for 9 months while I needed to file my 2023 return. I was so stressed about it creating a domino effect of problems. After countless hours on hold with the IRS, I finally got through to someone who confirmed that my new return would process normally despite the previous year being unresolved. And that's exactly what happened - my 2023 return was processed within 3 weeks even though my 2022 refund was still pending. Such a relief when that deposit hit my account!

Not to be the bearer of obvious news, but have you checked if your refund is stuck because of some error or missing information? The IRS is about as communicative as my teenager when asked about homework, but sometimes they actually do send letters that get lost in the mail. Might be worth creating an online account on IRS.gov if you haven't already - sometimes there are notices there that never made it to your mailbox. I was impressed when someone here suggested that to me last year and it actually showed a notice I never received!

Aren't you supposed to report last year's state refund as income on this year's federal return? What happens if you never received that refund? Do you still have to report it? What if it finally comes through after you've already filed this year? This happened to my brother-in-law and he ended up having to file an amended return when his long-delayed refund finally showed up.

I'm so grateful for this community! When my refund was stuck last year I was panicking about how it would affect everything else in my financial life. The advice here saved me SO MUCH stress! ❤️ One thing I learned that might help you - keep filing on time even with the previous year unresolved. The worst thing you can do is let one delayed return cause you to be late with the next one. That creates ACTUAL problems instead of just potential ones. Sending good vibes that both your returns get processed soon!