How Can I Check If My E-Filed Tax Return Was Received?

In the event that you e-filed your return yourself using the IRS’s Free File or Fillable Forms services, the IRS’s system does a short review and notifies you if your return has been approved or denied promptly.

 It is possible that minor flaws, such as a calculation error or a typographical problem in the Social Security number, may lead them to reject it. For a simple cause such as one of the ones listed above, you may amend the issue and resubmit it straight away to the website.

Tips

To ascertain whether or whether your electronically submitted tax return was successfully received by the IRS, you may utilize a number of approaches. If you filed your tax return using online tax preparation software, these providers will often offer real-time updates on the status of your papers upon receipt.

Obtaining Information About Your Return Status

Your tax preparer, if they are an approved IRS e-file provider, should be able to inform you when your return has been received and accepted by the IRS. All approved e-file providers have a direct line of communication with the Internal Revenue Service. Any information they provide you on the progress of your return should be up to date and correct..

You will be kept notified if you hired an online commercial tax preparation service such as TaxSlayer, TurboTax, or Tax Act, since these companies have automatic procedures in place to do so. For example, TurboTax sends you an email confirming that your tax return has been filed, followed by another email notifying you if your tax return has been approved or refused. 

They also provide tools that allow you to check on the progress of your return at any time of day or night. There are just a few bits of information that you must input. To use TurboTax, for example, all you have to do is input your Social Security number and ZIP code.

Regardless of whatever method you used to e-file your tax return, if you expect to get a refund, you may check to see if the IRS has received your e-filed tax return by downloading one of the IRS’s refund monitoring apps on your smartphone. IRS2Go is the name of their mobile application. 

Where’s My Refund? is the name of their web application. There are three answers from each of them: “return received,” “refund authorized,” and “refund sent.”

These applications need your Social Security number, filing status, and the amount of the refund you anticipate in order to provide you with information about the IRS refund status of your tax return. 

The status of your return is normally accessible within 24 hours after e-filing it, so give it a day or two and then check again with the government. Both applications are updated once every 24 hours, with the majority of updates taking place at night. For those unable to utilize one of these applications, you may phone the IRS’ refund hotline at 800-829-1954 to get an automated answer from the agency.

Keeping track of previous years’ returns and amended returns

The IRS applications do not provide information about the status of your e-filed state return. If you filed your state tax return using tax preparation software, you should be able to go into your account and check the status of your return. You may also get this information by visiting the website of your state. Many organizations, such as the IRS, have automated processes. Only a handful still provide phone numbers for you to contact them.

These systems are not capable of tracking returns submitted for previous tax years. These returns are typically sent to the Internal Revenue Service, and hence there is no electronic record of them. You can find out whether or not the IRS has received your postal tax return the fastest if you send it certified mail with a return receipt attached. 

The return receipt comes in the form of a postcard that you must mail to yourself. If you return anything, you will get it back with the signature of the person who accepted the return on it. It is customary for the IRS to rubber stamp it, although this signature is no less legitimate. It serves as proof that they received your return.

Returns that have been amended must normally be sent as well. Once again, certified mail will provide you with the most immediate assurance that the IRS has received your letter. They do offer an online tool called Where’s My Amended Return? that you may use to track down your amended return. 

However, the Internal Revenue Service suggests that you wait three weeks after mailing your updated return before utilizing it. You’ll need your Social Security number, date of birth, and ZIP code to complete the registration process.

Keeping track of your 2018 IRS Tax Refund

When it comes to determining when you’ll get your 2018 return, the IRS recommends visiting Where’s My Refund? directly on the IRS website. Alternatively, IRS2Go. You may also pay your tax bill online with IRS2Go. There is no information about refunds for first-time, current-year files in any of the applications. They are unable to provide information on updated or previous year’s filings.

When it comes to not receiving a “return received” answer, the most typical issue is that you are checking your email too quickly. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claims that they will acknowledge receipt of your e-filed return within 24 hours.

 Many tax preparation websites, on the other hand, recommend waiting 48 to 72 hours. In addition, the 2018 tax season officially began on January 29, 2018, according to the IRS. In the event that you submitted your return before that date, you will not get a confirmation that your return has been received until until January 30.

Embracing Electronic Filing in 2022

If you haven’t yet submitted your 2017 tax return, you may still do so using the IRS’s e-filing system. You have until October 15, 2018 to submit your application. The Internal Revenue Service has been aggressively encouraging electronic filing. Specifically, they suggested that the 2017 tax year was the optimal moment for people who were still submitting paper returns to make the transition to electronic filing. 

Despite previous cyber concerns, e-filing is still the most efficient and secure method of submitting your tax return. The Internal Revenue Service has strengthened its protections, and the great majority of e-filed returns are completed without issue. 

Tax software that walks you through the procedure step by step might save you time and money by avoiding frequent mistakes. In addition, since the program conducts all of the work for you, you will not be able to make a clerical or a mathematical mistake.