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> and also I'm now in trouble I know people who mess it up every year and the government just sends the forms back corrected. In fact they started treating the
by dguest 1y ago
> and also I'm now in trouble
I know people who mess it up every year and the government just sends the forms back corrected. In fact they started treating the government like a tax prep service. Do people actually get in trouble for this?
- filoleg 1y ago> Do people actually get in trouble for this? Unless they willingly and provingly try to grift IRS on a continuous basis, no, people don't get in trouble for this. If you mess something up or underpay on your taxes, and if (or when) IRS detects it, they will send you a letter explaining their concerns and provide you with remediation options (as well as an opportunity to dispute, of course). The remediation options provided by IRS typically include both "pay it now and we will go away as if it never happened" and "talk to us, and we can work out a payment plan with you (in case you aren't able to cover at the moment)". So no, IRS isn't some boogeyman that is gonna get you in trouble over a mistake. If they catch a mistake, they will work with you to remediate it, and their terms are typically extremely reasonable, and have zero negative consequences for utilizing them (unless you are, beyond any reasonable doubt, trying to defraud them or refuse to cooperate entirely).
- DontchaKnowit 1y agoEh the problem is when they dont catch mistakes for several years, and then come after you for like 80 grand at once, and then when you cant pay it threaten to seize your assets
- HWR_14 1y agoWhen you cant pay it, they will set up a payment plan over years (maybe a decade) to pay it off.
- DontchaKnowit 1y agoYeah until they cancel the payment plan without notice and demand full payment or they start seizing assets. Happened to my parents recently
- HWR_14 1y agoIt's a legally binding payment plan. Your parents must have defaulted on the plan, not filed taxes or otherwise broken a rule. Because once a plan is set up, the IRS is forbidden from seizing assets unless something rare like the previous happens.
- amelius 1y agoWhat happens if the submitted numbers are too high instead of too low?
- dguest 1y agoMy understanding was that they correct them either way. I assume random IRS employees don't have much to gain by allowing people to overpay taxes: they are just civil servants doing their day job.
- amelius 1y agoYes, but their managers may tell them to sort cases they work on in certain ways.