on hold with the IRS

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pucho812

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
15,594
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third stone from the sun
been close to an hour now of horrible music while on hold. At least I can still get other work done as I wait for a person. Only took an hour of dialing various toll free numbers to actually get one that could provide me with a person to talk to. I don't mind them being in wrong but I want to confirm what is up and why I received a notice my accountant said to ignore.
 
If you get tired of holding. You could go to the dentist and get a root canal. It’s about the same as waiting to talk to the irs . 😥
 
If you get tired of holding. You could go to the dentist and get a root canal. It’s about the same as waiting to talk to the irs . 😥
Was on hold for over 5 hours today just to get booted. 🤬🤬🤬
What sparked this off was I received a form saying I owe a substantial amount to them. Enough to cause me to go wth. So talk to my accountant, have all the proper paper work saying I mailed payment on time certified mail. Mail arrived late, but got there. They processed the payment on x date. I have records of it all.
But their irs form basically said I owed the full amount I already paid plus interest as if my payment didn’t exist. All records indicate payment processed.
My accountant said I should ignore it. But being the irs has a larger reach then my accountant, I would prefer to hear it from the irs.
Plus any interest they think I owe I paired for in 5 plus hours of hold music 🙉
 
I had the same type problem with CA tax board a couple of years ago. I just wrote on the bottom of the form they sent "I already sent you this - it's up to you to find it," made a copy for myself and sent it back (pissed me off to have to pay for stamp.) Never heard from them about it again.
 
so send it regular postage

JR
that's funny but I was referring to what i owe in taxes. the certified mail is not the issue. The IRS letter claims I didn't pay what I owed and now I owe that + interest. The date on the certified letter says I was on time to mail payment. The certified letter has tracking which says when they received it, over a week after mailing it. That shouldn't matter as it is post marked by 4/15. My bank has records of when they processed the payment. The fact they didn't process payment until May should also not matter except, their form letter was dated June. I don't know when exactly they generate such form letters and while i like my accountant saying to just ignore it, the fact it is a form letter means I am now a number in the bureaucratic system and it won't just go away even if i am in the right.
 
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I would not ignore it... state the facts of your case clearly with any supporting data. Mail it to them, then forget it.

The IRS actually operates on a form of profit motive. They pursue what looks like easy money. If they can shake loose some extra money with a computer generated form letter they will. If you don't owe them, tell them so and then forget it.

====

Decades ago I tangled with the IRS over a limited partnership investment in a R&D tax shelter. These were popular back in the 70s and a cleverly structured tax shelter investment could generate tax savings of several times the initial investment. My technician job back in the early 70s was working for one such R&D tax shelter business. I twisted the arm of the general partner(s) to allow me to invest. My only $3k investment was the smallest partner in the entire group, but thanks to the tax benefit it didn't cost me anything, actually netted me a profit over a few years of returns.

Long story short, the government rescinded the overly generous tax shelter law to prevent abuses like that. The IRS put a lien on my tax return (actually all of the partners) asking me to voluntarily extend the statute of limitations for another year because their legal review was not finished. I agreed to extend, but only for my specific liability associated with that partnership investment. One year later they asked me for another one year extension... this time my only liability was for that one tax shelter investment, at most a couple $K, I told them to buzz off, and they did. I was too little for them to come after.

So be little to the IRS. :cool:

JR
 
I would not ignore it... state the facts of your case clearly with any supporting data. Mail it to them, then forget it.

The IRS actually operates on a form of profit motive. They pursue what looks like easy money. If they can shake loose some extra money with a computer generated form letter they will. If you don't owe them, tell them so and then forget it.

====

Decades ago I tangled with the IRS over a limited partnership investment in a R&D tax shelter. These were popular back in the 70s and a cleverly structured tax shelter investment could generate tax savings of several times the initial investment. My technician job back in the early 70s was working for one such R&D tax shelter business. I twisted the arm of the general partner(s) to allow me to invest. My only $3k investment was the smallest partner in the entire group, but thanks to the tax benefit it didn't cost me anything, actually netted me a profit over a few years of returns.

Long story short, the government rescinded the overly generous tax shelter law to prevent abuses like that. The IRS put a lien on my tax return (actually all of the partners) asking me to voluntarily extend the statute of limitations for another year because their legal review was not finished. I agreed to extend, but only for my specific liability associated with that partnership investment. One year later they asked me for another one year extension... this time my only liability was for that one tax shelter investment, at most a couple $K, I told them to buzz off, and they did. I was too little for them to come after.

So be little to the IRS. :cool:

JR
I have no plans to ignore it, but they do make it difficult to get to the bottom of the issue. in the past few days, I have spent the majority of being on hold in the background only to be booted off the call. The one time i got a live person, it was the wrong department of the IRS and I got transferred back to hold to be booted. I want to talk with a live agent, it's not asking for much.
 
I would lower my expectations for resolving that with just a phone call.. The phone "help" lines are for general tax advice and they routinely give out incorrect advice. They don't assign an tax agent to your case until it has escalated to a serious problem. If you really want to cut through the red tape, maybe get your senator or representative involved, but this is the opposite of being little...

===

Here's another IRS story, my mother and step father (both RIP) retired to the smoky mountains outside Asheville, NC a few decades ago and operated a small tax return business out of their home. Every time a local farmer would get audited, all his neighbors would kick in extra cash receipts from their farm purchases. The IRS would end up owing that one audited farmer a big refund and never audit him again. ;)

Note: I am not advocating cheating the IRS... Pay what you owe but not a penny more... Maybe charge them a fair price for your hours waiting on hold.

JR

PS; Reportedly the IRS has been stockpiling ammunition spending hundreds of $k just this year. IRS CID agents can carry weapons but anecdotally experience more accidental weapon discharges than intentional. You don't want to mess with the IRS CID either way (accidents happen :rolleyes:). I can't tell if this is fake news or not.
 
I would lower my expectations for resolving that with just a phone call.. The phone "help" lines are for general tax advice and they routinely give out incorrect advice. They don't assign an tax agent to your case until it has escalated to a serious problem. If you really want to cut through the red tape, maybe get your senator or representative involved, but this is the opposite of being little...

===

Here's another IRS story, my mother and step father (both RIP) retired to the smoky mountains outside Asheville, NC a few decades ago and operated a small tax return business out of their home. Every time a local farmer would get audited, all his neighbors would kick in extra cash receipts from their farm purchases. The IRS would end up owing that one audited farmer a big refund and never audit him again. ;)

Note: I am not advocating cheating the IRS... Pay what you owe but not a penny more... Maybe charge them a fair price for your hours waiting on hold.

JR

PS; Reportedly the IRS has been stockpiling ammunition spending hundreds of $k just this year. IRS CID agents can carry weapons but anecdotally experience more accidental weapon discharges than intentional. You don't want to mess with the IRS CID either way (accidents happen :rolleyes:). I can't tell if this is fake news or not.
I am not into cheating the irs. But I am into resolution. Mail in copies of proof and no payment. Then take it from there. I once had an issue where my refund was stolen. It got resolved but took 9 months and a lot of phone calls, emails and other communication. More over I didn’t get to charge any interest. But that was the last time I ever got a refund. Better to be at 0 or owe then get a refund as out here California taxes your refund.
 
been close to an hour now of horrible music while on hold. At least I can still get other work done as I wait for a person. Only took an hour of dialing various toll free numbers to actually get one that could provide me with a person to talk to. I don't mind them being in wrong but I want to confirm what is up and why I received a notice my accountant said to ignore.
something similar has happened to me several times before, but I no longer use the cell phone for these type of calls since the last time when my call got disconnected after waiting for ages....
 
Yep. I forget the music. . . They could spend a cut of the billions extra they are getting for infrastructure to install a call-back system.
I got two $53 notices, one for me and one for the missus.
I waited over an hour to speak with Mrs. Wilson who told me that is was only one charge, that was for my extra tax to pay for the
"the employer payroll tax rebate given by our previous "illustrious president"". They send it to both names on the form.
I said "Mrs. Wilson, how do you like the $5 a gallon cost of gas from our current "illustrious president?", and she said "Can I help you with anything further?"
Click-aroonie!
Mike
PS: A really wack thing is that I got letters from both the IRS and NYS TAX, in the same week, notifying me that I did not owe them anything. THANK YOU! How many other millions of people got those wastes of paper? Is the IRS trying to support the failed USPS?
 
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