How to Read Your IRS Transcript (and Decode the Transaction Codes)
Your IRS transcript is the machine-readable truth about your account — it shows exactly what the IRS has on file, often days or weeks before notices arrive or Where’s My Refund updates.
Which transcript to get
- Return transcript — a clean record of what you filed. Mortgage lenders want this one.
- Account transcript — the action log. Transactions, penalties, credits, amendments. This is the one that matters when something’s wrong.
- Record of account — return + account merged. One document, everything.
- Wage & income transcript — every W-2 and 1099 the IRS received under your SSN. Essential when reconstructing an unfiled year.
Pull them free at irs.gov → “Get Transcript” (online is instant; mail takes ~10 days).
Reading the account transcript
Each transaction line has a 3-digit code, a date, and an amount. The date on many lines is the effective date, not the posting date — a 290 assessment can post weeks after the activity that caused it.
The codes people hunt for:
- 846 — refund issued. The finish line; a direct-deposit date usually follows
- 150 — return filed and tax assessed
- 290 / 291 — additional assessment / abatement
- 570 — return frozen for review (the scary one)
- 971 — notice issued. Whatever came next was mailed to you
- 766 / 768 — credits applied (refundable credits like EITC)
- 421 — exam closed
Full list → every transcript code explained.
The cycle code
The header shows a cycle like 20260605: year + week + day-of-week. It tells you which IRS processing cycle your account posted in — mostly useful for estimating when a 846 will actually land as a deposit.
What transcripts can’t tell you
They show what happened, not why. A 570 freeze won’t say whether it’s a wage match, identity check, or exam — that’s what the corresponding notice (often a CP05 or CP75) is for. If the codes show an exam or assessment you don’t understand, that’s the moment a pro earns their fee.
Related: IRS notices, decoded · Filing statistics & timing