I am not assuming it is an IRS problem.  When I called the IRS Payment Inquiry number, they did not have any information for up to four days.  And when I talked to an agent, she said that it can take the IRS up to 7-10 days.  This is a problem as clients are then concerned that they will get charged by the IRS for late payments, albeit the return was filed on time.  It is a problem, because the tax preparer has to be the front person answering questions when they would like to take a day off.