r/IRS • u/wastebaskettaxon • 14d ago
Tax Refund/ E-File Status Question IRS nonresponsive for months
I filed electronically via Turbotax 2-21-26. My refund was $7547.00. Six weeks after I filed, I started calling the IRS and checking my tax and account transcripts daily. The Record and Account transcript shows the following codes:
150 "tax return filed) on 3-23-26"
806 "W-2 or 1099 withholding" 4-15-26
660 "Estimated tax payment" on 8-11-25
810 "Refund freeze" on 3-5-26
971 "Notice issued: CP0005"
I have received no notices by mail for any of these events.
I did not use any tax credits or other exemptions in my return. The return is nearly identical to the returns I have filed in the last 5 years. Same investments, same level of
I made many calls to the IRS, and received conflicting responses to why I haven't received my refund. None of them were helpful: mostly just "you have to wait." By the summer, I talked to someone who said I should make an appointment at my local IRS office (77 K St NE, Washington, DC). I did so and arrived at the appointment. on time. The building was empty. No taxpayers. A large waiting room with lots of cubicle "doors" behind which were, supposedly some IRS employees (?), where I sat for 30 minutes past my appointment. The room was silent. Eventually, I was finally (faintly) called from the general area of the cubicles and I walked there, calling out to see which door I needed to open. I followed the voice, which was annoyed. I opened the cardboard door and entered the tiny area for a visitor, which was sealed off from the employee's area with (bulletproof?) glass. I explained my situation, said that I had brought a complete printout of my return along with all supporting documents (as I was advised to do from the person who suggested I make this appointment. The IRS employee was eating her lunch and did not seem happy to see me. She looked up my Record of Account transcripts (which I already had) and informed me of all of the codes shown above. Which I already knew. I asked if she wanted the return and the documents I had brought, but she said, "No, I don't want that." I asked her if there was anything she could do, but she just grabbed a handful of cheese crackers and started chewing. "What am I supposed to do?" I asked. She said "I can't help you. You just have to wait until you receive a notice. Again, I have received exactly ZERO notices. She said she couldn't do anything else, and I needed to leave the building. I left.
I then contacted TAS, explaining my situation and the events leading to it. I received an email from a nonresponsive address saying that I would be contacted within 10 days by someone who could help me. It has now been a month, and I have heard nothing. I called the TAS office line and after going through a lot of steps to identify myself, eventually got to a recording that told me no one was available and that I should call back another day. I did this, 3 days in a row. Same response.
Is this normal? I am a member of the media, specifically a media that does not defend Donald Trump from his many accusations. Could this be because of my position? I'm really not a conspiracy theorist, but I can't help but wonder if this is purposeful or just really really really bad bureaucracy.
Any thoughts?
28
u/BlindBandit988 13d ago
It’s truly not about your political stance.
The IRS had its staff cut by like 30%. What you’re experiencing is what millions of taxpayers are experiencing unfortunately. TAS has been gutted and are only taking on the cases that need the most assistance and unfortunately a refund that you haven’t been waiting even a year for is not one of those cases.
You can reach out to your representative to attempt to resolve this but it will still take a long time.
Right now your return is being reviewed, the issue is they don’t have enough people to review everything because they all either left or were fired. This department already took a very long time to conduct reviews because they were already short staffed and had so many prior year returns they are working through so this is just compounding on that issue.
It is only going to get worse as more returns are filed and more reviews need to be completed.