I previously OVERPAID a tax bill by like $500. I sent the IRS my check ON TIME. However, I want to have someone look over my tax return to make sure i'm not paying too much. So although I paid the IRS the money on time, i did not mail my actual tax return on time. I've had it sitting here signed and ready to go. the problem is, it probably costs like $500 to have someone look at it and i've been waiting til i have some extra money to do it. I will admit the actual return is over a year late, but I just got a threatening letter from the IRS. They are telling me they're going to apply some witholding thing and I could possibly face ONE YEAR IN PRISON! Here is my question: can they even do this to me? They don't know if I owe them money or not, but I do know that they owe ME money. Do they have a right to apply some restriction on me and threaten me with jail?!!?!? Can I call them up and be like, "remove this withholding thing now, because i know i don't owe you money; in fact, you owe ME money." What really makes me angry is that I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO PAY SOMEONE $500 TO CHECK MY TAX RETURN! AND ON TOP OF IT ALL......IF I WAS ON WELFARE, I WOULDN'T EVEN BE IN THIS POSITION! I AM VULNERABLE TO A PRISON SENTENCE BECAUSE I MADE MONEY!
You are right. You should buy a copy of TaxCut and run your return yourself for $30. If your return is so complicated that TaxCut won't do portions of it, do those portions manually. Learn the tax law - it will benefit you in the future. I'm sure if you put in the effort and still couldn't finish your tax return because of complications, your questions would be answered here on ET by people who have done their taxes by themselves for many years. PS - I would suggest TurboTax but I hate the restriction crap they put in their last version.
GG, I hate to tell you but you are totally at fault here. Of course you need to mail in your tax return, otherwise they do not know if you owe money or not. Who cares that you sent a check for $500? I and probably 99% of the other people here pay their taxes on time - I have no sympathy for you. Regarding the return being complicated - I own a home, have rental property, trade daily, own a business, have income from my wife, investment/dividend income, etc. I am not a tax wiz - but between my limited knowledge and Kiplinger Tax Cut I have managed to do the taxes myself for the last 5 years +. And, even if I needed help - $500? Are you kidding? There are so many tax preparers out there these days you can get someone to look over it for under $100 - some will even do it for free - you only pay them if they save you money. You not using Kiplinger (or TurboTax), or seeking a cheaper alternative than $500 is pure laziness. Finally, blaming the IRS is like blaming the cops for pulling you over for speeding. You know the rules, but you broke them. Give me a break and grow up.
GG, why didn't you file your return? If you file on time, you can always (I think for at least three years after that) later submit a 1040X and thereby amend your tax return. If it turns out you owe more than on your original tax return, you have to pay only interest, no penalties, and if they owe you, they will send you a check. I don't think they pay you interest though. I agree that there are few things on this planet which are more stupid or more difficult to deal with than the tax code, but one of them is immigration law. You should be grateful that you don't happen to be an entrepreneur who was born in a different country. If you come here to start a business (and create jobs, income taxes, sales taxes, etc. etc.) you basically have 2 choices: Come up with a little more than $1M BEFORE you start your business, file all the paperwork and wait several YEARS before you even enter the country, or start (semi-)illegaly, wait until you have made $1M, then file all the paperwork and wait several years, all the time facing the possibility of being imprisoned, fined, or deported for the crime of not having been born in America. Now THAT is real stupidity. The effect of our tax code is that more and more mediocre citizens will go on welfare or similar programs, and instead of making $10k a year for the government, they will cost them $20k. But the effect of those immigration laws is that Chinese, Indian, European, and all other entrepreneurs will rather stay in their own country and try to fight bureaucracy there than put everything at risk for years or decades being at the mercy of this corrupt government. This, of course will have almost no noticeable effect for this administration or the one after it, but 50 years from now, there might just be no ideas left in this country to support all the welfare cases, and the US will be in the situation that Russia found itself in about 10 years ago, while China or India or whosever government decides to further free enterprise like the US once did will be the dominant economic and political power on the planet.
You are 100% right here. Gekko's rantings sound like a little boy who is mad because he got busted doing something wrong. Instead of taking responsibility he blames everyone else.
Oh, that makes a difference. GG, you HAVE to send in a tax return or it doesn't matter how much money you send. Unless you file for an extension - which, btw, was another option you had. Glad that out of everything in my post you chose to focus on correcting me about the amount of money you paid.
You always seemed like a reasonable guy who just had some tough breaks as a trader. Now i see you got far bigger problems. Any moron knows you have to file a return yearly. Or at least file for an extension if you are going to be late. Get with the program dude.
gg I have routinely paid my taxes on time but filed a late return- my business accountant was not too timely and told me besides it is better to file the return a little late. As long as you paid you are golden. Just call the fricken irs lady up ( they have become friendly the last two years). Tell her your deal and she will be cool and ask you when you will file. It is a nice touch that you are saving money to have it done right. By the way you can not be thrown in jail for this. If you committed fraud that might be jail time but not getting your return in is almost your constitutional right. Those tax protesters (probably incorrectly) talk about not signing your return. There are laws in this country that state debtors can not go to jail and I have never heard of anyone go to jail for tax problems unless they were convicted liars. I know of one lawyer in new york who wrote off everything he did and spent because he said it was related to promoting his business. He battled the irs for years. He never went to jail, they just took the money they said they were owed from his estate when he died. Chill out the IRS is friendly now.
guys, i fully admit i am wrong in sending the return late. i do understand they need my return to see if i owe money or not. what i'm pissed about is how the tax system is such a joke. it should not be this complicated. i should not need to pay other people to make sure it's right. if it was how it should be, it should be very simple to do and i would send it in on time. it's obvious something is wrong when the tax code is x thousand pages and there are tax accountants all over the place. and on top of it they threaten to send me to jail for a year for this!!!?