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Trouble with the IRS

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by TerryM, Apr 13, 2022.

  1. TerryM

    TerryM Member

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    I don't know if anyone else has had to deal with this stupidity, but they sure don't know how to read over there. I have used the IRS Free Fillable Forms option for approximately 10 years so thought this year would not be too difficult. Boy was I mistaken. I purchased my 2021 Prime in August so I had a little more work to do this year. I filled out the 8936 form and entered the Fed Tax credit on Schedule 3 line 6f as instructed. completed Schedule 3 and entered the amount on my 1040. E-filed the return on March 3rd, but never got confirmation that it was accepted or rejected. After 3 days I checked on it and it was rejected, but no email was sent to give a reason. I double checked all entries and refiled, rejected again with no email explaining why. I decided to try one more time and this time I received an email stating Form 8936 PersonalUsePartOfCreditAmt must equal Sched 3 QlfyElecVehPersnlUsePrtCrAmt. Of course the IRS website was useless to decipher this so I emailed them on March 14th to get help. Received an automatic email stating expect an answer within 7 days. Never got that email, so I called to set up an appointment to review the problem. I was told no one at the IRS can do anything for me and I should just pay some one to do my taxes if I am not smart enough to do it myself. Needless to say I was not impressed with their stupidity but told them I would mail in my return and they could audit me if they didn't like how I did it. Today I finally got an email on the help ticket stating that there was an update to Form 8936 and to refile. I logged back in and there are no changes but figured the worst they can do is claim I filed twice, so resent the same return again and it was accepted within an hour. Now I get to call them back and have my mailed in return cancelled. How stupid people get government jobs amazes me
     
  2. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    Not sure what the percentage of people using the Electric Vehicle Tax Credit this year is, but it can't be more than about 3 or 4% of filers. With all the turmoil in so many places these days, it's not surprising the IRS has had to make mid year changes to at least one form.
    I know this sounds far fetched, but (and read it like I'm using a heavy Brooklyn NY accent ) wouldn't it be a pissah if they made the change to IRS Form 8936 just fa U.
    Thanks for the heads up !! ;)
     
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  3. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    I Installed some solar last year and had to wait to file taxes. Congress extended the 26% deduction from the year before even though the original law was for a reduction to 22%. Late changes like this, even though the 'change' was to stay the same, really slow the IRS's ability to accept rarely used forms. It will slow me again this year as I added 50% more battery and 25% more panels in March. I am averaging 95% self sufficient!
     
    #3 JimboPalmer, Apr 13, 2022
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2022
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  4. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    If there is stupidity in play, it is in Congress. They are the ones that keep cutting the IRS's funding so that they are short staffed and over worked.
     
  5. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Might have been easier and resulted in a quicker refund if you opted to use a paid version of tax software. I have been using TurboTax for over 10 years. This year was no different. The filing took less than 30min of my time to submit the E-file of the fed tax including the IRS Form 8936. And got a refund in less than two weeks.
     
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  6. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    They are super crunched up over there. They've been grossly underfunded for years, then there was a pandemic, workers absent from the office, and a bunch of pandemic-related last minute tax code changes added on to what they need to deal with. They're nearly a year behind with paper returns (but trying to hire 10,000 people on an expedited process to help out).

    They haven't processed mine filed last year yet. I haven't tried to call them up and ask about them yet, because I know what they're going through and I'd just be adding work. (I was an "essential" worker during the 1995 government shutdown, so I try to be sort of understanding when I know people are working in those kinds of conditions. The '95 shutdown only lasted three weeks!)

    The PersonalUsePartOfCreditAmt and QlfyElecVehPersnlUsePrtCrAmt look to me like typical names for fields in a fillable PDF form. You can inspect a form using some PDF authoring tools (Acrobat paid version if you have it, Apache PDFBox as an open-source alternative) to see what fields have those names, and make sure what was entered in those fields on the two forms exactly matched.

    One mistake that might be possible is that they created one of the forms with that name applied to the wrong field. Then you could have put the right value into the field that visually looked like the right one, but their software would be getting the entry from a different box that had that field label.

    When they issued the updated version of the PDF form, it might have been with no changes in the visible form, but with changes to the internal field names so the right ones were on the right boxes. Just a guess.
     
    #6 ChapmanF, Apr 13, 2022
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2022
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  7. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    I used TaxAct for years. When they changed their pricing structure to be in line with TurboTax, I went looking into alternatives. There are free ones out there that can file a full form tax filing. I ended up with using Credit Karma, and haven't had any issues for the past three years. They did switch to Cash App for handling taxes this year though. It does include free state filing for a single state, Pa's online form is simple enough though, but I didn't care in needing to have to install the app and sign up on my phone just to file on my computer. I might look elsewhere next year.
     
  8. pghyndman

    pghyndman Active Member

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    I bit my tongue and did not reply to the original post, but AMEN!
    I used to use TaxAct until a few years back after which time I moved over to TurboTax and never looked back. Not only does it save loads of time using previous info but can compute & file the state return as well, is accurate and up to date, Amazon always has a sale the week of/after xmas, about $30 for the deluxe version... highly recommend.
     
  9. Washingtonian

    Washingtonian Senior Member

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    I had a different experience with TurboTax. Used the Premier edition as mine was complicated with a lot of rental property expenses. Submitted it online and it was rejected. They said the AGI I put down for last year's taxes was incorrect. It was correct as I had a copy of last year's taxes in front of me. Submitted it again including comma and decimal in the numbers. Rejected again. So I printed them out and mailed it certified mail. I expect a refund, but if it arrives this year I will feel fortunate.
     
  10. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    The IRS has a note on this, if they have not processed your last year's 1040 yet, the value that will match is $0. Seems odd, but it will speed processing this year's form.

    Reasons why some tax refunds filed electronically take longer than 21 days | Internal Revenue Service
     
  11. Washingtonian

    Washingtonian Senior Member

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    You got me excited; thought maybe they didn't cash last years check yet. Looked it up. Sent them a check for $1639 in April; they cashed it three weeks later in May. I suspect the employees are told: "If there is a check with the return, go ahead and process it."
     
  12. Marine Ray

    Marine Ray Senior Member

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    On a broader tangent, why do we have to pay these 3rd party companies to do our taxes beyond the free, limiting IRS online? Other countries allow. Is the HR Block, TurboTax, etc lobby that influential ?
     
  13. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Congress is the opposite of Progress.
     
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  14. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Turbo tax was participating in the Free filing program but decided to stop that participation. So, there was no free federal tax filing through Turbo Tax online this year. I always used paid version, so it did not matter to me. But paid version comes with, I think 5 free federal e-filings. I buy a single software and use it for three filings. Yeah, free e-filing would be fine for many people with a very simple tax return. But, TurboTax makes tax-related record keeping so much easier. For the price paid for the software, it is worth it.
     
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  15. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Yes, that's exactly it. Your question has been the subject of investigative news stories and IRS commissioner frustrations for years.

    A glimmer of progress: the rule forbidding IRS from coming up with its own online filing system was dropped in 2020.

    IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete With TurboTax — ProPublica
     
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  16. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    There are free options out there that can do more than the EZ form. Before going with Credit Karma/Cash App, I used one that was only available regionally.

    The lobby is why we can't directly file with the IRS online. I can file directly with Pennsylvania online, and have done so for years without issue, but have to use a third party to even do the EZ form with the feds. They are also the reason why taxes are complicated.
    I was happy paying $20 to $30 to TaxAct each year, but then they decided they needed to be like TurboTax and H&R Block. Paying 3 to 4 times more for 3 more e-filings that I wouldn't use wasn't worth it anymore.

    Credit Karma does maintain records of past filings, but I do save a PDF of my returns to the home PC.
     
  17. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    I don't know what CPA charges to do an individual tax return. And I don't know what other tax software costs. I remember a time when TurboTax costs only $15 for the basic version. It now costs ~$30 for Delux (which is the basic version nowadays) with a coupon. I used the Premier version due to the more complicated forms needed for the business and investment but still paid only ~$50. And used it for 3 files.

    I think I can do my tax filing free if I really wanted using some free filer program, but for me the time saved using TurboTax is priceless. It takes me less than 30min to finish mine with very little actual typing since most of the data are imported from the previous filing and electronically imported from my investment accounts. I doubt that all those features and functions are present in free tax software.
     
    #17 Salamander_King, Apr 14, 2022
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2022
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  18. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    The Credit Karma/Cash App one works just like a pay one with importing info from previous year filings.

    Don't know how it works with investment accounts.
     
  19. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I was using TurboTax online for several years. It was nice the way it would pre-fill from last year's data.

    Then there was a year when a bunch of life happened and I didn't get my return filed. So the next year, I had two to do. And TurboTax said "aha! if you want to pre-fill from the year before last's data, you can only use our fancier more expensive version!"

    At which point I said to myself, I'm going to keep my own records and do my own forms, thank you.
     
  20. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Yeah, I don't know how it works on other tax apps. But I am not about to change my habit for a mere $30-$50 saving. It was super easy with the TurboTax direct import of stocks purchased/sold from my investment account. It automatically generated 10+pages of Form 8949. If I had to enter them manually, it may have taken hours and still had an error or two.
     
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