My daughter has received 3 letters so far indicating a possible 60 day delay, or last letter came on 8/6/2021. The letter lists multiple possible reasons why, I suspect in her case it's due to her and her husband taking the EIC. This delay also is affecting their Child Care Credit and indications are that until the return if processed, they won't get that either and they have 3 young children. So far, they have about $7000 in credit card debt, interest is compounding, they are behind on their electricity bill, husband hasn't been able to work for 6 months and who went on SSDI as of last month. He didn't get any back pay because his condition was approved right away to multiple conditions.
There is a way to check on the refund periodically; but, in process doesn't do alot to explain things, getting through to a live person at the IRS is a challenge; but, even when you do, they can't tell you anything except defer to the multiple choice letter. If you qualify for earned income credit that typically means your income is not great, you'd think those people would get a higher priority than some other categories listed on the canned letter she's received 3x so far. Anyway, I understand that the IRS is understaffed, working on a thin budget, and last word I had was the backlog in June that was @ 35 million unprocessed returns is down to 14 million; but, I don't know if this includes people getting their taxes they paid on unemployment back which is already being sent out.