I filed for the first time on paper in June 2020 for tax year 2019, and I have the certified mail receipt. I owed a balance, and the IRS deposited the check that I enclosed, but I didn't receive either of the 2020 stimulus payments, which I was eligible for, nor did I receive any correspondence from the IRS.
I wanted to see my 2019 record of account to try to figure out whether there was some reason I wasn't eligible for the stimulus payments (and I'd keep the transcript just for my records). Neither the Get My Transcript nor the Request Transcript irs.gov services would let me request the transcript because my details couldn't be verified.
I called the IRS, and the representative researched my account, finding that indeed they had credited my account for the payment, but that they had no record of my return. He advised me to resend the same 2019 return with a statement explaining that this was a refile. However, if I did refile, I'd be contravening the IRS Covid operations webpage, which states
Other than responding to any requests for information promptly, there’s no action you can take. We’re working hard to get through the backlog. Please don’t file a second tax return or contact the IRS about the status of your return.
I'm not in a rush to get my transcript; my return could be in one of their trailers of Covid-delayed paper returns and might still eventually be processed.
Should I obey the customer service representative and refile my previous-year return, since the IRS seem to have lost my original paper return, or should I obey the website and hold off refiling until the IRS provides a written instruction to file, since the IRS might still be working through the backlog of returns?