[Werewoman]

Ooops! I did it again and boy has it ever triggered my ptsd all over the place.

For the second year in a row, we have gotten notice from the state that I messed up our tax return and we owe about 1500 dollars.

I'm having a really hard time right now.

[PumpkinPieHead]

Ugh, you get one step ahead and get knocked 2 back sometimes, huh?

[Werewoman]

You said it!

[eskielover]

Wow, maybe it would pay to have a tax accountant/CPA do your taxes. My ex messed up my inheritance to over $10,000 with the IRS. I worked with them myself to get rid of all the penalties.....took over 7 years to pay off. I sure understand the stress.

[Werewoman]

Originally Posted by eskielover

Wow, maybe it would pay to have a tax accountant/CPA do your taxes. My ex messed up my inheritance to over $10,000 with the IRS. I worked with them myself to get rid of all the penalties.....took over 7 years to pay off. I sure understand the stress.

Under any other circumstances, I would agree with you, but think on this...

I've been doing my own tax returns, like, always. That's about 35 years or so. In all that time, I made two mistakes. Now granted, the fees and penalties of those mistakes add up to about $1500 in addition to the tax we owe.

We had an accountant do the taxes this year. It cost us nearly $400 to do a simple tax return (no itemized deductions or dependents, etc.)for federal and state.

So do the math. Add up how much we would have spent all these years (25 years of marriage) as opposed to how much my mistakes are costing us.

No one ever thinks about that, though. No one ever tells you when you get it right, they just get royally pissed at you when you get it wrong.

[eskielover]

You said this is the 2nd year in a row so something must have changed from the previous years that is now causing you this problem.

Thats expensive for a CPA at least in my area.

Don't forget though......the non-payment penalty can be waived as soon as the actual tax amount is paid in full. I was thankful I got the IRS to wAive the initial penalty with a letter from our Pdoc & talked to thevIRS advocate who let me know the other penalty can be requested to be waived as soon as the tax is paid. They don't offer that information.....something you might look into to at least save you some.

Hope you have learned the cause of this problem so you don't have a 3rd year like this.

Dealing with the IRS personally was a serious challenge especially after the H I left had totally ignored the 1st letter from the IRS & never told me about it. When I DEMANDED an explanation he said he didn't understand the letter & couldn't find a copy of the taxes he had filed so he just didn't bother. I found out when I had the mail forwarded to my farm that winter & got the 2nd IRS letter in Feb the day before my birthday saying there had been no response to the 1st letter the previous March. Good thing there was 2100 miles between us. It took me several months to sort it out too & understand what was going on with the IRS Who actually was a good help......but they can be frustrating too like waiting over an hour for the call to go through to talk to someone then the cell call gets dropped.....or I got one guy who had a thick German accent who couldn't grasp what I was asking. Finally demanded a supervisor.

Hope you don't have to deal with issues like that.

[Werewoman]

Originally Posted by eskielover

You said this is the 2nd year in a row so something must have changed from the previous years that is now causing you this problem.

Thats expensive for a CPA at least in my area.

Don't forget though......the non-payment penalty can be waived as soon as the actual tax amount is paid in full. I was thankful I got the IRS to wAive the initial penalty with a letter from our Pdoc & talked to thevIRS advocate who let me know the other penalty can be requested to be waived as soon as the tax is paid. They don't offer that information.....something you might look into to at least save you some.

Hope you have learned the cause of this problem so you don't have a 3rd year like this.

Dealing with the IRS personally was a serious challenge especially after the H I left had totally ignored the 1st letter from the IRS & never told me about it. When I DEMANDED an explanation he said he didn't understand the letter & couldn't find a copy of the taxes he had filed so he just didn't bother. I found out when I had the mail forwarded to my farm that winter & got the 2nd IRS letter in Feb the day before my birthday saying there had been no response to the 1st letter the previous March. Good thing there was 2100 miles between us. It took me several months to sort it out too & understand what was going on with the IRS Who actually was a good help......but they can be frustrating too like waiting over an hour for the call to go through to talk to someone then the cell call gets dropped.....or I got one guy who had a thick German accent who couldn't grasp what I was asking. Finally demanded a supervisor.

Hope you don't have to deal with issues like that.

I'm sorry to hear that you had such a hard time. My problem is state, not federal and yes I fiqured out what I was doing wrong. Not that it matters as my ptsd will never allow me to touch another tax return as long as I live, most likely.