So why the sudden inability to keep up with paper return processing? I (and it seems many others here) have been filing on paper for years, and prior to this year always had my return back within 8 weeks. What changed that suddenly made it so hard to get the job done?

^^^COVID...Gov't employees 'not' working from home!

Another guy who has been filing electronically since it became available. This year I had my refund in the bank in about three weeks. Not to bad.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
^^^COVID...Gov't employees 'not' working from home!

Yep, very few people I've met over the years have the self discipline necessary to do a full day's work when working from home with nobody watching them.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

quote:

Originally posted by SR:

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

I was filing electronically until the IRS decided to take a double payment for my owed taxes. Took quite a bit to get the money back so I'm back to paper filing.

Wow, I've never heard of the IRS drafting an account twice.

Consider one of two options. File electronically but mail the payment. File electronically but then go online to make the payment.

As I mentioned above, if you paper file, it is best if you get proof of filing (i.e. Certified mail with return receipt)

I've never sent one certified mail and I've been filing income tax returns by mail since 1963. Never had one disappear and not show up either.

I'll continue to take my chances on snail mail.

yeah, that how I was until one didn't arrive. I do tax work for a living so I was able to resolve it without having to hire a professional. It can be a huge hassle.

So I now either efile or send certified mail. It's pretty cheap to use certified mail return receipt requested and I keep a the supplies at the house to save a little time at the postoffice.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
^^^COVID...Gov't employees 'not' working from home!

Don't see this as me trying to excuse their management problems... but it's pretty hard to open the mail sent to the IRS office when you're working from home. Ditto for processing the paper returns - not something that is done from home.

My tax guy is the senior partner of a tax boutique in Del Mar CA. He sets my quarterly payments so that I owe some money at end of the tax year. He files my returns electronically for me. I suspect that his communication channel with the IRS is much better than that of the ordinary tax payer.

Not necessarily. He just knows it is a waste of time to call and the IRS will eventually get to you. He probably likes you to think that.

quote:

Yep, very few people I've met over the years have the self discipline necessary to do a full day's work when working from home with nobody watching them

^^^^^^^^^^^
I have been self employed for decades and prior to that cannot recall anybody watching me except when I worked factory blue collar jobs. Having someone watch you has got to be awful.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

Yep, very few people I've met over the years have the self discipline necessary to do a full day's work when working from home with nobody watching them

^^^^^^^^^^^
I have been self employed for decades and prior to that cannot recall anybody watching me except when I worked factory blue collar jobs. Having someone watch you has got to be awful.

I'm in the same position as you, but in my business I met a bunch of people working for themselves that didn't have the necessary discipline to do it and they ended up going broke and becoming an employee again.

I cleaned up the code a few of them did and began inquiring about various people who had dropped out of the business. Turns out that's what did it for most of them. The others just couldn't figure out how to budget their money properly when it came in an irregular manner.

Tons of people think they'd do great owning a business but very few actually do. The rest just lose their butts and go back to being employees.

I always look for new opportunities. The work that I do now is very different than what I did ten years ago. There are daily challenges on the business side. I read about investing and luckily did very well with my retirement accounts. Some physician friends of mine decided to work for the hospital and most are unhappy.

I would imagine that most Doctors would probably prefer to be self employed, but since I don't know any personally, I could be wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
My tax guy is the senior partner of a tax boutique in Del Mar CA. He sets my quarterly payments so that I owe some money at end of the tax year. He files my returns electronically for me. I suspect that his communication channel with the IRS is much better than that of the ordinary tax payer.

Pre Covid, maybe.

There is a tax practitioner hotline that use to be effective. While I've not had to call it recently, co-workers tell me it's almost as bad as the regular IRS lines. Expect to be on hold a long time. They we get a bunch of questions so they are confident we qualify as a tax professional.

My tax guy told me to contact my congress critter after four months of no refund for 2020. Three months after filling out the paper work for the representatives support staff I got my money. When we met with the tax guy to review our 2021 return, he said going forward he was recommending the congressional route tp everyone.

quote:

yeah, that how I was until one didn't arrive. I do tax work for a living so I was able to resolve it without having to hire a professional. It can be a huge hassle.

So I now either efile or send certified mail. It's pretty cheap to use certified mail return receipt requested and I keep a the supplies at the house to save a little time at the postoffice.

Certified still doesn’t guarantee success. Sent a check to a relative earlier this year certified with a return receipt. It was never delivered and never found. Check wasn’t cashed fortunately, but I did stop payment after the post office gave up looking for it.

quote:

Originally posted by tsmccull:

Certified still doesn’t guarantee success. Sent a check to a relative earlier this year certified with a return receipt. It was never delivered and never found. Check wasn’t cashed fortunately, but I did stop payment after the post office gave up looking for it.

It's about proving you filed. Let's walk through what happens if it is lost in the mail.

> Tracking allow you to see the return never made it to the IRS. You contact them and arrange to send a replacement.

> if return shows refund, having proof of mailing should allow you to obtain interest from the date the return was mailed. No proof of mailing, perhaps no interest (or less interest) will be paid to you.

> if the return shows a tax payment you'd normally be subject to late filing and late payment penalties. Penalties can be abated with proof the return was mailed on or before the due date.

quote:

Tracking allow you to see the return never made it to the IRS. You contact them and arrange to send a replacement.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Since they do not answer the phone what do you do send another certified letter?

Sorry, but your system is flawed because it is based upon the cooperation and responsiveness of the IRS.

FYI:

The IRS on May 17, updated its mission-critical website. The IRS reported that it is opening mail within normal timeframes but that it still has 12 million unprocessed original and amended individual income tax returns and 3.8 million unprocessed original and amended payroll tax returns.
Unprocessed individual returns. The IRS reported that, as of May 6, 2022, it still has 9.8 million unprocessed individual income tax returns. This backlog includes both current and prior year returns the majority of which, 7.2 million, are paper returns waiting to be reviewed and processed.
The other 2.6 million unprocessed individual returns require error correction or other special handling. According to the IRS, it is taking up to 120 days to correct and process these returns and to issue any refunds.

MISSION CRITICAL WEBSITE!

Like they are going to the moon. What at joke!

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

Sorry, but your system is flawed because it is based upon the cooperation and responsiveness of the IRS.

I do this for a living so I can comfortably say that my advice is sound. Let me know if you make your living working on tax controversy matters, if so you might have a constructive suggestion to share.

To anyone looking for advice, while not ideal, the process I described is the only option available. In today's day and age, if you need to reach the IRS, plan to call very early morning and stay on hold until someone answers the phone.