The IRS thinks I owe them $2,000 from my Year 2000 taxes!!!! (1 Viewer)

[Travis Hedger]

So I get home the other day, open my mail and notice that I have a letter from the IRS, strange, I think that it is not after Jan 31 when the W2 usually arrives.

The first thing my eyes notice is that they say I owe them $2,000 USD due to a "proposed" change to my reporting of income for Year 2000.

For some reason, they think I made $15,040 more for Y2K, than I had reported.

Strange, I go into my back tax records and locate that year and find that the information that they have under my original filing matches exactly.

Where in the hell do they get the thought that I made $15,000 more than I had reported.

Considering I had worked for the same company all year long I only had 1 W2 form to file, a bank statement of interest, and a disbersment of some 401K money I had cashed out from a previous job (and already ate the penalty on)

The IRS form basically has 2 boxes, 1 to check for if you agree to the change and start making payments + interest

Or 2 to sign a form under penalty of purgery that I protest the change they "propose" and provide supporting docoment copies, which I have, the W2 and 2 other forms.

One thing that comes to my mind is the possibility of my old company I worked for maybe fudged their books and rereported it to the IRS? They filed bankruptcy and laid off thousands in June of 2001.

I have heard in the past of the IRS getting agressive in random targets of citizens that they may think wont fight back, yet just give in and pay up.

Am I possibly one of the victims of this or is this a simple .gov organization fuck up that should be rectified in short order with the documents I have to back up my side of it?

 

[Jason Seaver]

I've gotten a letter like that before. Fortuhately, the company I had worked for was still in business and I was able to contact them and have them show the IRS that only one of the two W-2s they were attributing to me actually belonged to me.

 

[Travis Hedger]

Heh, good for you on that one!

The IRS letter says they can contact them for me, but they are out of business since they are in bankruptcy proceedings now and have been purchased by another company.

Should I ask the IRS to provide the documentation instead of looking at just the printed info they sent on their paper, or just go with the W2 info I have? I mean at the salary and bonus's that I was getting there is no way I come even close to what the IRS thinks I made.

 

[SteveA]

A similar situation happenned to my wife last year. Her employer switched payroll contractors mid year and part of her earnings were reported to the IRS twice. She simply sent the nasty letter back to the IRS with an explanation of what happenned and they cleared everything up. They did contact her old employer, though. The situation might be trickier if your old employer is no longer in business.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Uh, this might be a bad time to bring this up, Travis. But, you owe me $2000 as well.

 

[John Garcia]

I agree on the tax accountant. Perhaps you could file an amendment (itemize if you didn't) and actually get more money back

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Whatever you do, DO NOT MISS ANY DEADLINES that the IRS sets for response. Send everything Certified Return Receipt or Registered so you can prove that they got it. Otherwise you're in a world of hurt.

A tax accountant would be useful, at least to analyze what the IRS thinks that it's doing here. There may be a very simple explanation that the IRS will buy and they'll go away happy, but without knowing what they're assessing you for, that's hard to determine.

Good luck.

 

[KyleS]

Travis,
I am with you I just received a letter stating that I owe another $1500 in taxes for year 2000 due to personal income on the side..... Hmmm my only problem is that the company that supposedly sent in a form on my behalf is no longer in business. I have no way to verify it was me other then the IRS word and no way to disprove it since the company cant be reached anymore. I dont know what to do in this case myself. Can I tell the IRS that it wasnt me and that the company is out of business or will I be forced to pay it?
KyleS

 

[KyleS]

OH yeah and here is the kicker I get the letter 3 days ago and they say I have to respond by November 14th WTF. I only get a little more then 2 weeks to defend myself or find out what is going on? What if I lived in another state and had to mail the company or wait for the company to mail me the information. It just wouldnt happen.

KyleS

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

There may be a very simple explanation that the IRS will buy and they'll go away happy, but without knowing what they're assessing you for, that's hard to determine.

They won't go away happy. You can send them every document you have in your records and they won't go away happy.

A few years ago they did this to my father. A company he used to work for and now no longer exists had filed his W-2 using the wrong employer number. Or, some dumbass at the IRS got the employer number mixed up. It shouldn't have made any difference, because he did claim as income the exact dollar amount indicated on that W-2. But the IRS didn't see it that way, they think he had unclaimed income from another company which by an amazing coincidence was exactly the same amount as income he had already claimed. The wrong employer number happened to be some real estate office in California and they were totally unsympathetic to his dilemma. No information he could provide the IRS would satisfy them, not even pointing out the W-2 he claimed with the exact same dollar amount. Remembering that a few years ago Congress raked the IRS over the coals about the way they treat taxpayers, he called the local office of his Congressman, explained everything, and they asked him to bring his records and all IRS correspondance to their office and they would make copies and look into it. About two weeks later he got a letter from the IRS: case closed. No doubt someone at the IRS got chewed out by the Congressman's staff or perhaps the Congressman himself.

The IRS is going to threaten to add interest to the amount you "owe" while you are protesting it so they can collect more when they rule your evidence is insufficient proof of innocence. Whatever you do, do not make any payments to the IRS. It would be an admission of guilt. Seek the help of a tax accountant, and maybe a lawyer too. Maybe your local Congressman can help you too.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I've gotten the IRS to go away happy for several clients, thank you very much.
Making payments, if you note in the cover letter that payment is made "under protest" will not be considered an admission that you owe the money, and will stop the interest and penalties from running if it turns out that you do, in fact, owe the money. Many times the interest and penalties winds up being far more than the actual tax owed.

 

[KyleS]

Mark youve got mail with a couple of questions.

KyleS