The IRS account, step by step.

Why you need your account first

The account transcript lives behind a sign-in on IRS.gov. The transcript is the only record that shows why a refund waits. The tracker shows a stage, not a reason. An account is needed once, and it opens every IRS service. This site reads the transcript you download, inside your own browser.

The two sign-in providers

The IRS asks you to use an account with Login.gov or ID.me to sign in to IRS.gov. The IRS uses those providers to verify your identity and protect your data. Login.gov is the United States government's own sign-in service, maintained by the government. ID.me is a private sector sign-in provider that maintains its own system. Both providers meet federal security standards, and you must be 18 or older to create an account.

One account signs you in to every IRS service. The IRS recommends ID.me if you have an individual taxpayer identification number, if you live outside the United States, or if you have no smartphone or tablet with a camera. Everyone else can use either provider.

What Login.gov asks for

Creating a Login.gov account is a two part process: set up the account, then verify once. The account itself needs a Social Security number and a personal email address. The password needs at least 12 characters. The account needs an authentication method such as an app, face or touch unlock, or a phone that receives texts. The identity check happens only once.

The identity check needs a smartphone or tablet with a camera, and a webcam will not do. The check needs your Social Security number and a driver's license, a state ID, or a United States passport book or card. The check also needs a United States phone number or mailing address. Finally, if you have a Login.gov account that you have never used on IRS.gov, then you may need the identity check again.

What ID.me needs

An ID.me account is called a wallet. The wallet needs a Social Security number or an individual taxpayer identification number, and a personal email address. The password needs at least 8 characters. The wallet needs multifactor protection such as an app, face or touch unlock, or a phone that receives texts. The identity check needs that same number and a valid government photo ID, such as a driver's license, a state ID, a passport or a passport card.

What happens on the screen

The first step is choosing the IRS account or service you need. The second step is pressing sign in or create account, then the button of the provider you chose. The provider then walks you through creating the account. The identity check comes after the account exists. The whole thing happens once, and later sign-ins only ask for the password and the second factor.

A webcam is not accepted for the Login.gov identity check, which wants a phone or tablet camera. A filer without a United States phone number or mailing address cannot finish the Login.gov check. A holder of an individual taxpayer identification number uses ID.me, because Login.gov asks for a Social Security number. A filer under 18 cannot create an account at all. A filer who cannot pass the check online follows the instructions on the notice instead.

What the account shows you

The IRS account shows your tax records, including the adjusted gross income and the transcripts. The account also shows the status of a refund and of an amended return, digital notices from the IRS, the audit status for certain audits conducted by mail, and the information returns the IRS holds, such as Forms W-2 and certain 1099s.

The IRS sends digital notices to the account, so if a letter is lost in the mail, you can still read it. Notice CP05 means the IRS is checking income, withholding or credits, and asks for 60 days before you call. Notice CP12 means the IRS corrected a mistake and the refund is not the amount you expected. Notice CP53E means the IRS could not deposit the refund and gives 30 days to add a bank account. The account can also send email notifications about new activity.

Payments and plans inside the account

The account makes a same day payment, or schedules one up to 365 days ahead from a bank account. A scheduled payment can be cancelled before its date. The account shows up to five years of payment history, including estimated tax payments. It shows pending and scheduled payments and the balance owed by tax year. The account lets you view, create and revise a payment plan.

The account can go paperless for certain IRS notices. It can also send email notifications about new account information or activity. The account issues an identity protection PIN, which stops someone else filing a return with your number. Finally, the account shows authorization requests and signs a power of attorney for your tax professional.

Getting the transcript itself

The transcript lives under tax records in the account. The right file is the account transcript, not the return transcript. Online transcripts cover the current year and nine prior years. A mailed request covers the current year and three prior years. A mailed account transcript covers a single tax year and may miss the most recent penalties, interest, changes or pending actions. A business, or anyone who filed something other than a Form 1040 uses Form 4506-T.

A transcript without a code 150 means the return has not posted yet. An accepted return can sit for days or weeks before it posts. A transcript that says no record of return filed means nothing has posted for that year. The tracker can show return received while the transcript is still empty, but the published waits are the measure of whether that is normal.

The letter that sends people here

The return verification service is for a CP5071 series notice or letter 5447C and nothing else. The service needs the notice itself on hand, and it needs the original or amended Form 1040 for the year printed on the letter. A filer without that return can take the figures from their tax software or their preparer. Someone who did not file the return uses the same service to tell the IRS, because another person may have filed with their information.

The IRS asks you to wait 2 to 3 weeks after using the service before checking the refund. Processing the return after verification can take up to 9 weeks. A filer who verified does not need Form 14039, the identity theft affidavit, unless the IRS asks for it. A filer under 18 contacts the IRS instead, because an account needs 18 or older. A filer who cannot verify online follows the instructions printed on the notice.

The other identity letters

Letter 4883C is answered by phone, on the Taxpayer Protection Program number printed on it. Letter 5747C is answered in person, at a Taxpayer Assistance Center booked on 844-545-5640. Letter 6331C asks you to confirm you filed the return before the refund moves. In general, the number printed on a letter is the only line that can help with it. Separately, the IRS never asks for payment or a card number to release a refund.

The identity protection PIN

An identity protection PIN is a number that the IRS issues to you. The PIN stops anyone else filing a return with your Social Security number or taxpayer identification number. The IRS account issues that PIN in the profile section. A filer who verified a return does not need Form 14039 unless the IRS asks for it. The PIN belongs to one filing season and is reissued.

What the transcript says once you are in

Code 150 is the posted return and the start of the clock. Code 570 holds the refund until a 571 or 572 releases it. Code 971 records that a notice was mailed. Code 846 is the refund, dated the day it was sent. A 971 beside a 570 usually means the letter that explains the hold.

Code 898 means part of the refund paid a debt outside the IRS through the Treasury Offset Program, and code 826 means part of it was moved to another tax year you owe. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service mails the notice naming the agency that received the money. Those details are not given to the IRS. You can call the Bureau at 800-304-3107, Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central.

The amended return in the account

The IRS account shows the status of an amended return. Form 1040-X can be filed electronically for the current year and the two years before it. That status appears about 3 weeks after filing. Amended processing takes 8 to 12 weeks, sometimes up to 16. The amended return posts on the transcript as code 977.

Checking a refund without signing in

The refund tracker asks for the exact whole dollar refund amount, your Social Security number or taxpayer identification number, your filing status and the tax year. A status appears 24 hours after a current year return is e-filed, 3 or 4 days after a prior year e-file and 4 weeks after a paper return. The tracker updates no more than once a day. The account can send email notifications about the refund, and the automated refund hotline is 800-829-1954.

What this site does with the transcript

The decoder reads the account transcript inside your browser, and the file is never uploaded. Only the transaction codes and the days between them are used for the forecast. The forecast counts from the code that matters, the posted return or the release of a hold. The forecast compares your codes with timelines other people shared anonymously. A group with too few timelines gets the published IRS window instead, with its source.

The waits worth knowing

The IRS publishes an estimated wait of 3 weeks for an e-filed return and 6 weeks or more for a mailed one. An identity check adds up to nine weeks after it is done. A return claiming the Earned Income Credit waits until mid February by law. A state refund runs with its own tool and its own timing, paid by the state revenue department, and a federal account says nothing about a state refund.