Sandy, i heard on the news that IRS was so short staff that they will not be many audits this year! Hope that cheer's you up!

Yvonne

I did hear that, but ha, ha, they can still come back sometime in the future! I'm still can't believe they didn't bother to mention that extensions are just for paperwork, taxes are still due April 15. Now how is a person supposed to know that you are to pay your taxes before you know what they are? The automatic assumption would be that you don't - and they HAVE to know people will think that, and should warn us. Thank God I didn't goof around till October before I filed. I just found the papers last night, now I'm wondering if the fines will wipe out the savings from the receipts for diapers/pads/etc.

This is normal procedure for taxes filed late. So, people filing late have to estimate and hope they guess correctly. I can see from the IRS point of view why they have this rule (which I am sure is actually a law). If they did not require people to actually pay the taxes by April 15 a lot of people would file to report late in order to pay the taxes late. It is a pain. But frankly I like having roads, etc, etc.!

Sandy :

in doubt of things google is my friend even after consulting experts. sometimes they will answer to questions asked & ofcourse being novice in the field we don't ask right questions to get more detailed info from them. I drive my husband & kido to wall by asking lot of questions. I don't like to assume so I always ask questions hubby feels I ask questions for sake of asking questions lol thats his viewpoint. I ask because I did not understood something. I am sorry you have to learn hard way this lesson, but now you will be able to help some one else if they decide to file extention on filing late taxes. But I think writing letter to IRS explaining your situation you should be able to waive penalties. call them & explain your situation. you never know they might waive penalties & interest. no harm in calling if they say yes & waive it you saved money, if no then its alright than nothing lost

Asha

lwisman - I am not questioning normal procedure nor how the IRS sees it. I don't have a problem paying my taxes. The only problem I have is HR block not bothering to tell me I would get fined and interest for not making a guess on what I'd owe. I surely would have, if they had bothered to tell me. I mean, how hard would it be to say those few words, so I wouldn't get fined? That's why I paid someone, to keep from making mistakes that would get me fined.

Asha, I have tried to call the IRS and went thru about 6 "choose this number if you want this or that number if you want that" - about 6 loops of choices. The last choice told me they didn't actually answer tax questions on the phone, to go to their site where you can look up Q&A.

Of course, I did ask the guy who so happily told me he could easily file it for me for free - all kinds of questions. Trying to be sure I got everything straight. But there was no way for me to guess that an extension was still expecting me to pay the taxes, that I didn't know what they were yet. The reason it was so unknown is that for the previous tax year, Bob worked 2 full months, then 6 months of short term disab, then 3 months of long term disab. This was 3 different pay scales in the one year, and no way to use last years figures to guess what this year would be. However, I'd hazarded a guess and overpaid, if I'd known I was going to be fined and charged interest.

Yes, of course, I did do a search trying to find a number to talk to someone, and on the fines/int of not paying ontime. That's how I found out how much the fines might be and got mad! I am overpaying (I hope) this year, so if I ever have to do an extension again, they'll owe ME money - so no fines. I can't be sure what I'll owe next year, as another flex is in the year - he goes off cobra and onto medicare, which means less insurance deductions for us (=more income to pay taxes on). Next year, still another change, as he will be on medicare all year, not just the last part of the year. Then the next year, another change, onto social sec instead of disability. There are no constants.

Sandy :

I so know this is so frustrating thats's why sometimes I am glad its me who is survivor & not caregiver. I don''t have patience of saint which is required when you are dealing with govermental agencies. I hope & pray things will work out for you. I will still advocate writing letter to IRS explaining your situation while mailing your check& it might work.I have seen my husband dealing with all these goverment agencies. he is one persistent fellow, without him it would be so hard to get any of my rightful benefits

Asha

well... the checks are gone, I mailed them on the way home from HR block. Yea, I read on the internet that if you could prove it was an accident and not you trying to pull something, they wouldn't charge you the fines/interest (IRS SITE) - BUT, it didn't tell me who I was supposed to prove it to, since they will not talk to anyone. I wouldn't worry about the amount so much, if we hadn't owed them $2100. Since the interest is compounded daily on the amount you owe and a fine is like 8% of what's owed, on top of that, it is more of a problem, than if I owed them $250 or some such. Luckily, I didn't wait till Oct to file and found my missing receipts Sunday, filing Monday. I can see now, how people end up needing one of those tax lawyers, because they owe 60 thousand in back taxes... I had just thought they never paid their taxes and so it was actually that much, while it might have only be a couple of thousand, with outlandish fines on top.

I guess I got lucky and finished mine on the nineth of April... I e-filed and got my check back at the bank in a couple days!! I used Turbo Tax every year since I sold the business ten years ago!!

Mine's always been done on time before, but this year I couldn't find $1400 of handicapped receipts for deductions. They were lost when we had the house flood that had 5 rooms tore up. I mean, there were 3 guys in here from the water damage company throwing everything I had in boxes and bags and then taking it all in different directions. That would be bad enough in one room, but 5 is hard to recover from. Anyway, it was those that was hanging up the process and why I filed for an extension to start with. I found about $1000 of them, and let the rest go. I just hope the fine and interest doesn't take away more than the $1000 deductions got me!