We gave our CPA everything in early March.

They were busy so filed an extension and gave us our estimated payment.

We paid it.

In JULY we finally got our forms back. I immediately caught that they’d left my son off of them.

We had paid $2,000 extra.

They fixed the error and submitted. I was pissed, I had paid a professional because I didn’t want any avoidable mistakes…. but my wife (who is usually right) insisted I not do the communicating and she pay. They had otherwise handled a pretty complicated tax year very well.

It’s freaking NOVEMBER 25th, and the IRS still has my damn $2,000, with their site saying it’s “still processing”.

Motherfuckers. I have not allowed them to keep any of my money for years, and this is EXACTLY why.

Incompetent boobs, the lot of them.

It seems to me, anything required a ‘special look’ takes a long time. It’s like when a return is filed, the computer runs a few checks, you seem legit, if a refund is due, out it goes.

If something is awry, 2-3 years later you get an IRS letter.

The current administration wants to hire many more IRS agents. I think their stated goal is to scrutinize returns & attempt to collect more $$ from those that pay.

Years ago I went to a tax return service, yeah, a lower end one. After a visit or two I took my stuff & went home, thinking I could do better myself.

I’ll admit, my situation is fairly streamlined & on the simple side. I just muddle myself with Turbo-Tax.

The fee of a competent tax guy is money well spent.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
The fee of a competent tax guy is money well spent.

Indeed.

I used to have H&R Block, IIRC, do mine. Then I allowed others to convince me it was so simple I was wasting my money. So I started doing my own. Long story short: One year I went back to H&R Block. Lo and behold, in reviewing my prior years they filed amended returns and got me more money back.

I've payed "a guy" ever since.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
The fee of a competent tax guy is money well spent.

Indeed.

I used to have H&R Block, IIRC, do mine. Then I allowed others to convince me it was so simple I was wasting my money. So I started doing my own. Long story short: One year I went back to H&R Block. Lo and behold, in reviewing my prior years they filed amended returns and got me more money back.

I've payed "a guy" ever since.

My Father In Law went to H&R Block for most of his life, in spite of the fact I'd offered to do his taxes for free.

Then one year he told me that for some unknown reason his taxes had gone up over $1,000.00 for the last year.

I told him to bring his return over and found that H&R Block had screwed it up severely. Instead of owing an additional $1,000+, he had actually been entitled to a refund.

So I filed an amended return for him and got his money back. He never went to H&R Block again for the rest of his life.

Leaving off a dependent is a pretty big mistake. My taxes in terms of running a business are complicated. I have had one crappy CPA and am very happy with our current CPA.
I want someone between me and the IRS.

We’ve been using the same guy for 18 years. Ours was filed in early July and am still waiting for a refund. A call to our guy resulted in him saying lots of people are having their returns slow walked by the IRS.
A visit with the local congress critter’s office resulted in the same report that the irs is slow walking things.
My daily check of the irs website hasn’t changed from “pending” since I started checking in September.

Every year we just apply the refund to next quarter's taxes. I do not need the money for day to day expenses and certainly can not make much with interest rates the way they are.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Every year we just apply the refund to next quarter's taxes. I do not need the money for day to day expenses and certainly can not make much with interest rates the way they are.

You can do well in the stock market if you choose wisely.

Yeah. I know. At this point in life short term investing in the market makes no sense. Stocks paid for two college educations for my kids including postgraduate work.

quote:

Originally posted by Hunthelp:
We’ve been using the same guy for 18 years. Ours was filed in early July and am still waiting for a refund. A call to our guy resulted in him saying lots of people are having their returns slow walked by the IRS.
A visit with the local congress critter’s office resulted in the same report that the irs is slow walking things.
My daily check of the irs website hasn’t changed from “pending” since I started checking in September.

Thanks, that makes me feel slightly better.

Gonna figure out where I am for the year this weekend. I wonder if I can just give them the middle finger and file an amended return saying for them to apply the 2K to this years taxes owed. Then they can owe themselves.

In June of 2020 I filed a 2018 return; It was processed in July of 2021.

My wife and I are both self-employed with variable incomes so we pay estimated taxes.
This year our return was done and filed around the end of March, and we were owed a little under $2000.
The IRS had said things were running a little behind for some reason so it might be more than the usual 6 weeks or so.
I completely forgot about it and late last month a check showed up that I had completely forgotten was coming.
Like others have said, interest is zilch these days but I think they did include a bit extra for us "giving" them a several month loan.
I wouldn't be surprised if they 1099 me for the interest next year.

My tax guy sets my quarterly estimated payments such that I usually owe a little bit, so no long wait for a refund. My tax situation is complex, so he has to be damned good to consistently hit that target.

If I do get a refund, it’ll be so small that a long wait doesn’t matter.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
My tax guy sets my quarterly estimated payments such that I usually owe a little bit, so no long wait for a refund. My tax situation is complex, so he has to be damned good to consistently hit that target.

If I do get a refund, it’ll be so small that a long wait doesn’t matter.

I've been doing quarterly for over 30 years and yes, it's hard to hit the target.

Ultimately I figured out that if you pay at least 90% of the tax before April 15, you won't get any penalty for what you owe.

So since I was tired of making quarterly payments, I started just sending them 90% in June, one quarterly payment only, and then paying the remainder on April 15.

Works like a charm and I avoid the annoyance of making quarterly payments.

I can’t put up walls or work on cars like some of you can. But I can certainly do my own taxes no matter how complicated. We each have our own strengths and areas we need other people’s help.

A real CPA or just someone who prepares tax returns? Get a real tax accountant.

We just got a refund of $4.75 from 2019. Had no idea they were looking at our return from then.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
A real CPA or just someone who prepares tax returns? Get a real tax accountant.

Oh no, a real deal CPA. That was why I was so frustrated. If I’m paying professional prices, I expect professional service.