IRS processing of 2019 paper returns

[FIREchief]

I mailed my 2019 1040 to the IRS via certified mail on 3/11/20.
The envelope was delivered to the IRS on 3/14/20.
I paid the balance due electronically through the IRS website on 3/23/20. The IRS account shows the payment received, along with my estimated payments for 2019.

Like many are reporting here on the forum, the IRS on-line account still shows no evidence of the paper return being entered into their system. Has anybody who sent a paper return (without refund due) had their return processed by the IRS? If so, when did you mail you return?

I ask mainly out of curiosity. Since I mailed my return certified mail, I am not at any risk of the IRS claiming that my return was not filed in a timely manner. Since they have my payment logged, I am not at risk of the IRS claiming late payment. Thanks.

[neilpilot]

Not exactly what you are asking: I mailed an amended return for TY2019 on 3/31/20. It was mailed via USPS first class, with no receipt of certification.

IRS online systems indicate receipt of the return on 4/3/20, but it has not yet been processed.

[Eagle33]

Since IRS has to pay interest on refund due returns, I would assume they would prioritize those before processing the payment due returns.

[nisiprius]

Not sure what you're asking. I don't know what expectations the IRS has set about their rate of processing paper returns.

Mine was received by the IRS on March 13th. After four months of seeing nothing on the IRS refund tracking page but "Did you enter your information correctly?" sometime in mid-July the page finally changed to "We have not processed your return yet." On August 8th it changed to saying my refund had been approved and would be mailed on August 14th. On August 15th changed to saying it had been mailed. On August 17th I received a printed check in the mail, for an amount that was a little larger than my Form 1040 refund amount. No explanation was given but the amount was consistent with interest having been added.

I'm not sure why a check was mailed when my return requested direct deposit, and had the same routing and account numbers to which my stimulus payment had been successfully sent. Maybe all the interest payments were made by check and the workflow somehow worked better that way.

I think the IRS is doing a decent job under what must be extraordinarily difficult conditions.

[Katietsu]

Anecdotally and a bit from a conversation with an IRS employee, original returns with a refund seemed to go first. The amended returns should start showing expected refund dates next week. And I can only assume that original returns with no refund due will be lowest priority since the taxpayer usually does not care or even know when these are entered.

[NotWhoYouThink]

Still no status on my mom's return. She had a refund due, which was applied to 2020 taxes. I assume I should put the refund amount when requesting status, but it keeps coming back asking me to check if the data I entered was correct. Oh well, nothing I can do about it until next February or so.

[earlyout]

...
I'm not sure why a check was mailed when my return requested direct deposit, and had the same routing and account numbers to which my stimulus payment had been successfully sent. Maybe all the interest payments were made by check and the workflow somehow worked better that way.
...

It is hard to know what logic the IRS uses. I efiled on July 16. My refund was in the account on July 28. On August 24 the IRS deposited a small amount into the same account which I assume is the interest owed.

[AlohaJoe]

Since IRS has to pay interest on refund due returns, I would assume they would prioritize those before processing the payment due returns.

How do they know if a refund is due before they process it?

The IRS states that they process returns in the order they are received.

[RudyS]

For returns filed in Massachusetts, there is one address for returns enclosing payment, a different address for forms NOT enclosing payment. Of those not enclosing payment, it's a good bet that a refund is due unless it's a zero return for some reason. Likely true for other states too. Maybe not for out of country.

[FIREchief]

Not sure what you're asking. I don't know what expectations the IRS has set about their rate of processing paper returns.

Not sure why you aren't sure what I'm asking.

Has anybody who sent a paper return (without refund due) had their return processed by the IRS? If so, when did you mail you return?

Was there something unclear in that?

[FIREchief]

For returns filed in Massachusetts, there is one address for returns enclosing payment, a different address for forms NOT enclosing payment. Of those not enclosing payment, it's a good bet that a refund is due unless it's a zero return for some reason. Likely true for other states too. Maybe not for out of country.

I think the other common "not enclosing payment" is somebody (like myself) who files a return owing money, but pays it through the IRS website instead of enclosing payment.

[FIREchief]

Update: upon logging into irs.gov, I now see my 2019 return has been processed. It shows a processing date of Nov 9, 2020, so I must have inadvertently traveled into the future..... Must be that flux capacitor board I recently added to my PC.

Maybe I should have checked some future stock values while I was 12 days in the future.