Missing refund from amended tax return

[jpdx]

I filed an amended 2020 tax return over the summer. According to the IRS "Where's my amended return" portal, the return was processed in September and resulted in a refund. It says "You should have received your refund and/or a notice if your refund was adjusted to cover past due obligations," however I have not received any payment or correspondence.

The reason I amended was to add Qualified Sick and Family Leave credits but this change is not reflected in my online transcript. It does however say "Amended tax return or claim forwarded for processing" and "Amended return filed" with September date.

It's December now. The IRS doesn't answer the phone. What should I do?

[reeshau]

I filed an amended return in February, and also had the same notice in September.

One question:  have you moved since the address you filed with?  I found out a number of things, in my case:

1)  The IRS will send you a check, not direct deposit.  (They are direct depositing the child credit this year, but didn't use that route)
2)  They will send the check to the address you filed under. (In my case, 2018, even though they know my current address)
3)  The USPS will not forward a federal check, even if you have a forwarding instruction.  The check is returned to the IRS.

In my case, I gave them until early October, then called following the instructions below.  I got a person in about 5 minutes.  They were able to update my address, and get a new check issued.  I got an automated letter by the end of October, explaining the issue with check and giving instructions to fix, but of course I had already taken care of it.

https://amynorthardcpa.com/how-do-i-reach-a-real-person-at-the-irs/

So, you should have received a letter by now, I would think.

[jpdx]

Thanks reeshau. My address is current. I haven't had any luck getting through on the phone, likely because I'm not calling right when they open (I'm at a disadvantage here on the West coast.)

I also noticed my advance CTC payments stopped in Sept, which I think the IRS may have paused due to my amended return being processed. I can't think of any other reason.

[reeshau]

Thanks reeshau. My address is current. I haven't had any luck getting through on the phone, likely because I'm not calling right when they open (I'm at a disadvantage here on the West coast.)

I also noticed my advance CTC payments stopped in Sept, which I think the IRS may have paused due to my amended return being processed. I can't think of any other reason.

Try the link I posted.  It is definitely a game with the phone tree, to flag a situation that can't be reported on automatically.  I called just after lunch, CST.

[phildonnia]

As a benchmark, I filed a 2019 amendment in January 2021, and received a refund in the middle of October.

I am told that the IRS is severely understaffed, and has given priority to sending out Advance Child Credit checks.  So amended returns are sitting in storage units, while the queue slowly works its way along.

[jpdx]

OP UPDATE: I received my refund this week, plus interest! Total processing time was 10 months.

[LightStache]

OP UPDATE: I received my refund this week, plus interest! Total processing time was 10 months.

Wow! Glad you finally got it, but that's way too long.

I filed my '20 returns in late Aug '21. The Fed refund still hadn't come by mid-March, 5.5 months later.

You can't even call and use the prompts to ask a live person about your refund. So instead I called the IRS and asked "I want to know if I should hold off filing my '21 return now because it looks like there's a problem processing my '20 return and I don't want to create any issues in the system." Got transferred over to the "Procedures" group. A smart fellow there figured out there was a "freeze" on my '20 return payment for no good reason. He took the steps necessary to unfreeze the payment, which he said I should receive within four weeks.

With the IRS you have to get creative in how you ask questions so that you can actually get in contact with an intelligent rep.