No record of return filed on transcript 2022

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This tax-filing season is expected to be difficult, as the IRS works through millions of unprocessed returns, according to a report from the National Taxpayer Advocate.

An error-free return may avoid delays, and IRS transcripts can help, tax experts say.

While most who file electronically and use direct deposit will see refunds issued within 21 days, mistakes can halt the process by flagging your return for a manual review. 

There was a flood of roughly 9 million "math error" notices from the IRS from Jan. 1 through July 15, 2021, with 7.4 million caused by stimulus payment mistakes.

What's worse, there were fewer than 15,000 workers to handle the 240 million incoming calls during the first half of 2021, which is one person for every 16,000 calls.

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"You want to make sure that your returns are right," said Tommy Lucas, a certified financial planner and enrolled agent at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo in Orlando, Florida. "Because it's going to be really difficult to get a hold of anyone [at the IRS] to talk through your situation." 

IRS transcripts

One way to cut back on mistakes is for your return to match IRS records, such as advance child tax credits, stimulus payments and any tax form submitted on your behalf — income, unemployment, Social Security benefits, mortgage interest and more.  

These forms can easily get lost if you've moved, and many companies no longer deliver them by mail, explained Or Pikary, a CPA and tax advisor at Mazars, a tax advisory firm in Los Angeles. 

You definitely don’t want to be guessing this year.

Tommy Lucas

Financial advisor at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo

However, if you're missing documents, you can get a free IRS transcript. There are five types of transcripts, covering past returns, account summaries, income details and more.

While the fastest way is online, you may also request one by phone or mail. 

How to access IRS transcripts online

1. You must register or login to your IRS Online Account.

2. After signing in, click "Get Transcript Online" here.

3. Pick a reason from the drop-down menu.

4. Select your IRS transcript by year and download .pdf.

"Most people don't know about the wage and income transcript," said Lucas.

And it may be particularly helpful if you're a gig worker or independent contractor with dozens of jobs, tracking down multiple 1099-NEC forms to verify your income, he said. 

However, the wage and income transcript also includes other records, such as health savings account details, that may not be complete until July, according to the IRS.

The transcript may also be helpful if you refinanced your mortgage last year and have interest statements from more than one company, Pikary said.

"That could be a deduction that you're missing," he warned.

Moreover, IRS transcripts are another way to check for fraudulent activity, Pikary said, and the sooner you notice, the faster you can report the problem.

How to decipher IRS transcripts

While IRS transcripts can be helpful, these reports may be difficult to read since the agency uses three-digit transaction codes with a brief description to identify each entry. 

However, you can use the Transaction Codes Pocket Guide to check any line items that may be unclear. And if you're still not sure, you can review your transcript with a tax professional.

In order to try and figure out when you might get your tax refund, one common method is to decipher the day through your transcript cycle code.

What is my transcript cycle code?

If you have a tax transcript cycle code, this means that your return has successfully made its way onto the IRS master file (IMF), which in turn typically means that your filed tax return is currently being processed by the IRS.

In order to figure out your return or refund status, though, the cycle code and tax topic code need to be put together, but these alter during the IRS processing cycle.

Should you see the 846 code on your transcript, this means that the IRS has processed your return and that your estimated direct deposit date has been figured out.

The IRS tend to update returns in cycles, so your IRS cycle code can inform you which batch you are in and when your transcript tax return information is updated, whether this is on a daily or weekly basis.

What is the processing date?

You are able to see your cycle date via the free official IRS transcript, with this being an eight-digit number that follows the format of year-week of year-day of week. Therefore, it will look something like 20220602.

The first four digits indicates the tax processing year, so this would be 2022.

The fifth and sixth digits are the week of the year, so in this example the '06' would mean it is the sixth calendar week of the year.

Then, the seventh and eighth digits are the day of the week for your IRS Account and when it is uploaded to the IRS master file.

The IRS weekly processing begins on a Friday, so 01 = Friday, 02=Monday, 03 = Tuesday, 04 = Wednesday and 05 is Thursday is generally reserved for weekly processing.

Why is my transcript showing no return filed?

What does it mean when your tax transcript is not available?

What is the processing date on IRS account transcript 2022?

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