If your return has been received, the IRS is still processing and has not yet issued a refund. If the refund has been approved, the agency is preparing to send it by the date shown. If the refund has been sent, it will be with you within up to five days if it has been sent to your bank account and several weeks if it is arriving by mail.

If you have jointly filed your tax return, you may be able to limit how much of the joint refund is reduced. The IRS says that if “you’re not responsible for debt that is subject to offset because it is owed by your spouse, you’re entitled to request your portion of the refund back from the IRS.”