Acknowledgment of Taxes - especially Zero taxes.

[markbike528CBX]

I paid zero US federal taxes in 2019.

How (if) do I get an acknowledgment of a) filing receipt b) an OK on the amount?

I used to pay lots, so the check cashing was something that I'd see in my bank account.

I'm sure if you were short of the correct amount, you'd get sent a bill.  If you were due a refund, then that would be a sign.

[Michael in ABQ]

Did you have any income this year? If so you still need to file a tax return. Even if nothing was withheld and you end up owing nothing. If that's the case it should be pretty simple and you can do it for free.

Unless all of your money was sitting in a non-interest bearing account and you simply live off that you probably had some income, whether in an investment or interest from a bank account.

[seattlecyclone]

Did you have any income this year? If so you still need to file a tax return. Even if nothing was withheld and you end up owing nothing. If that's the case it should be pretty simple and you can do it for free.

Not actually true. There are filing thresholds that tend to line up with the standard deductions; if you're below these thresholds there's generally no requirement to file and you might as well skip it unless you need a refund of withheld tax.

[secondcor521]

I paid zero US federal taxes in 2019.

How (if) do I get an acknowledgment of a) filing receipt b) an OK on the amount?

I used to pay lots, so the check cashing was something that I'd see in my bank account.

I'm sure if you were short of the correct amount, you'd get sent a bill.  If you were due a refund, then that would be a sign.

For the first part, there are two options.  You can use the "Where's my refund?" tool to check on the status of your return.  Just put in your SSN, filing status, and refund amount ($0); it will indicate whether the return has been accepted.  Note that if you filed on paper, it will take a number of weeks to show up there.  You could also have sent your taxes with a return receipt requested through the US Post Office, although technically all that shows is that you mailed something to the IRS, not that you filed your taxes.

As far as if they're OK with it, the way it works is that you can assume they're OK with it until they notify you that you're under audit or if they've made a correction.  The IRS doesn't proactively notify people that they're OK; it just contacts those people who's return may not be OK.

[markbike528CBX]

I paid zero US federal taxes in 2019.

How (if) do I get an acknowledgment of a) filing receipt b) an OK on the amount?

I used to pay lots, so the check cashing was something that I'd see in my bank account.

I'm sure if you were short of the correct amount, you'd get sent a bill.  If you were due a refund, then that would be a sign.

For the first part, there are two options.  You can use the "Where's my refund?" tool to check on the status of your return.  Just put in your SSN, filing status, and refund amount ($0); it will indicate whether the return has been accepted.  Note that if you filed on paper, it will take a number of weeks to show up there.  You could also have sent your taxes with a return receipt requested through the US Post Office, although technically all that shows is that you mailed something to the IRS, not that you filed your taxes.

As far as if they're OK with it, the way it works is that you can assume they're OK with it until they notify you that you're under audit or if they've made a correction.  The IRS doesn't proactively notify people that they're OK; it just contacts those people who's return may not be OK.

@secondcor521, thanks, these were the needed answers. 
I knew there likely was a mechanism to ping the IRS, didn't know the key words. 
The "we'll tell you only if it is wrong" was my likely guess on the IRS being OK with the (non) amount, thanks for the confirmation.

other posters, thanks for the answers, and more background.
We (MFJ) had <24000 W-2 wage, and quite a lot but <78K (long term dividends and capital gains). 
Filed, 1040. Schedule 1,2,3, B, D, Form 8949 part II box D and E, Form 8995.  sent it in late February.

MPP: I had 11.00 in foreign tax credit, but since I had no tax, I got no credit.

Something I hadn't thought of before, is that in the last few years I've been focused on mortgage paydown, not adding to investments.
That makes ALL my investments long-term, and therefore taxed at 0%.

[secondcor521]

You're welcome.

Forgot to mention before that if you did file electronically through a tax prep program, those programs usually have a way for you to check to see if the IRS has accepted your return.  The IRS only accepts a return once they've received it, so if the tax prep program says that the IRS has accepted your return, then you know they've received it.

They can still audit you or correct obvious errors if you made any, but that happens later.

Also, zero isn't a special number to the IRS.  A perfectly legitimate tax return can be anywhere from thousands owed to a return of thousands of dollars.  Zero just happens to be in the middle.  Also, I've done a lot of tax returns as a volunteer preparer for the AARP Foundation Tax Aide program, and there are lots of people who file a zero balance federal return; it's pretty common actually.