My tax transcript says refund issued

Every tax season there is a guessing game played by millions of American tax payers on when they will get their refund payment deposited into their bank account. There is the so-called IRS refund schedule, which has estimated dates for when the IRS will make refund deposits to bank accounts or send out mailed checks.

But this is just an estimate and does not account for processing delays, statutory limitations (e.g PATH act) and other reasons refunds could get delayed.

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So another way, as discussed in this article, is to check your IRS tax transcript (free from your IRS account) that shows what is called a “cycle code.” This is an eight digit number that indicates when your tax return posted to the IRS Master File (IMF).

The cycle code is updated regularly and when combined with tax transaction codes on your IRS transcript, can provide insight into your tax refund status (including amended returns), processing stages and potential direct deposit date.

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• What does the transcript cycle code mean?
• How do I find and interpret my IRS Cycle Code?
• Weekly vs Daily processing cycles
• 2022 and 2023 IRS Cycle Codes for Direct Deposit Dates
• Refund direct deposit date (with Code 846) via cycle code

What does the transcript cycle code mean?

The tax transcript cycle code means your return has been submitted to the IRS master file (IMF) and generally means that your filed tax return is under processing (code 152) by the IRS.

But remember the cycle code + tax topic code, need to be used together to figure your return or refund status given they change during the IRS processing cycle.

You will need to wait for the 846 code (refund issued) to show on your transcript. This means the IRS has processed your return and your estimated direct deposit date (DDD) has been determined. See section below for more details on this code.

The IRS can and does update cycle codes and dates regularly and are pretty careful about disclosing specific details given issues in past tax years.

However we do know the IRS updates returns in batches/cycles and your IRS cycle code tells you which batch you are in and whether your transcript tax return information is updated on a daily or weekly basis.

How do I find and interpret my IRS Cycle Code?

You will need to get access to your (free) official IRS transcript. Once you have that look for the cycle date per the image below. It will be a 8 digit number like this 20220602. The cycle is interpreted as follows: (YEAR)(WEEK OF YEAR)(DAY OF WEEK)

2022 [First four digits] – This is the tax processing year. 2022 in this case.

06 [Digits 5 and 6] – This is the week of year. So 06 means the 6th calendar week of the year. Months are not a factor here. Get a calendar out and count the weeks to determine this (a week goes Monday to Sunday). So Jan 3rd, 2022 to Jan 9th 2022 is Week 1, January 24th to January 30th is Week 4, February 7th to 13th is Week 6.

02 [Digits 7 and 8] – This is the “day of the week” for your IRS Account and when it posts to the IRS master file (IMF). Posting is classified as either being updated weekly or daily. Cycle codes ending in 01, 02, 03, 04 are daily accounts. Cycle codes ending in 05 are generally weekly accounts.

A full table for 2022 and 2023 cycle codes is shown below. I update this during tax season with any changes and every year so you can subscribe (free) via email to get the latest updates.

Note the IRS weekly processing starts on a Friday, not a Monday. I know strange, but that’s what it is.

There are 4 daily processing days per week (includes transcript and WMR/IRS2Go updates). So 01= Friday, 02=Monday, 03 = Tuesday, 04 = Wednesday and 05 is Thursday is generally reserved for weekly processing.

02 means this is a “daily” posted account and the posting to the IMF (IRS master file) will generally occur on Monday.

So using the example above, 20220602 cycle date is equivalent to a calendar date of Monday, February 7th, 2022. It means your return was successfully filed and you are in a daily batch cycle.

There is also an estimated processing date of Feb 28th, 2022 noted in the transcript example above.

Weekly vs Daily processing cycles

While WMR/IRS2Go and your transcript can update any day, they generally have major updates once a week and aligned to your cycle.

As detailed in this article, major WMR status updates for daily accounts (cycle codes 01 to 04) usually occur on Wednesdays; and major status updates on weekly (05 cycle code) accounts are generally on Saturdays.

Mass transcript updates for those with daily accounts (in the IRS Master File) are usually on Tuesdays; while those with weekly processed accounts generally see major updates on on Fridays. You can see more in this video as well.

Note that your cycle code can also change during a tax season (e.g. you from from daily to weekly) through resequencing of your tax return in the IRS master file. This will result in your tax return being pushed out one or more cycles (and likely result in a delayed refund).

2022 and 2023 IRS Cycle Codes for Direct Deposit Dates

The table below shows the IRS cycle code to calendar date conversion. Remember the cycle code can update/change through out the tax season as your tax return is processed.

2023 Calendar date to IRS cycle code

2022 Calendar date to IRS cycle code

2022 IRS cycle dates

Refund direct deposit date (with Code 846) via cycle code

When you see the IRS code 846 (refund of overpayment) on your transcript it means a refund has been issued. This is when you can use the cycle code to get an estimated payment date for your refund. It will generally be the day after your “day of the week” cycle code.

So if you are on a Tuesday daily cycle, your refund will likely hit your account on a Wednesday. Paper checks will take 5 to 7 days longer.

I have seen cases, due to processing backlogs, where the actual refund deposit (transaction date) into your bank account or financial card could happen 2 to 3 days after your cycle date. Don’t get too stressed if a couple of days off. This has been happening a lot in the last few years!