Any Tax Experts?

[Dmb5450]

I'm hoping someone can offer some advice, I have tried to solve this issue on my own but don't seem to be getting any where.

My wife got a letter from our local tax office stating that she owes 71 dollars from the 2014 tax year. This is the first time we have gotten any notice about this. Basically, the info reported on the local tax form was incorrect according to the audit. ( I live in PA, Lehigh County)

I now do my own taxes now, but for that tax year a CPA did them. What happened, according to the CPA is that box 1 and box 18 wages differ, box 18 had a lower figure. I was told that he followed the directions exactly and reported the income in box 18 and paid the local tax owed as a result.

The audit letter states that we reported the wrong income (they wanted income from box 1) as a result we owed the difference plus a penalty and a failure to pay fee. I called the IRS spoke to 3 people and was on the phone for over 2 hours! The kicker, no one knew the answer as to why the boxes 1 and 18 were different. They didn't even know if the boxes are allowed to be different! I asked the simple question " if the IRS doesn't know this answer how did the audit turn up that my wife owes money?" No one could answer that either.

I know it's a small amount, but it's the idea behind it. The company my wife worked for in 2014 was terrible, the boss sent W2 out late pay checks were wrong etc, I told the local IRS office about this back when things occurred nothing got done. I also thought a law was in place stating employers need to take out the exact amount of local tax, they never took corrects amounts out. We even had them manually change the percentage even then there were issues.

If this is the employers fault how do we get this resolved? I didn't call the old employer yet as they are morons and I know nothing will get done, but I will call if needed. I was hoping the IRS could say "employers issue this is what you do" but that was not the case. I have until 2/13/17 to pay the owed amount, hoping to have his resolved by then.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!


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[KirkH]

Pay the $71 and get on with your life. It's not worth the agita.


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[FUNX650]

I now do my own taxes now, but for
that tax year a CPA did them.

What happened, according to the CPA is
that box 1 and box 18 wages differ,
box 18 had a lower figure.

I was told that he followed the directions
exactly and reported the income in box 18
and paid the local tax owed as a result.

Just wondering...

•The CPA, themself, "paid the Local Tax"?

•Wouldn't/won't the CPA go with you
(or, in your stead) to the IRS to explain
their computations firsthand?



Bob

[Dmb5450]

Yes the CPA took our check and mailed everything in to the IRS. I have an email out to the CPA asking how to proceed with this but haven't heard back yet. I am hoping he takes some responsibly and knows what to do in order to fix this. I was just trying to do my own research to fix the issue as well.


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[FUNX650]

Yes the CPA took our check and mailed
everything in to the IRS.

I have an email out to the CPA asking
how to proceed with this but haven't
heard back yet.

I am hoping he takes some responsibly
and knows what to do in order to fix this.
I was just trying to do my own research
to fix the issue as well.

^^^ :props: ^^^


Bob

[Dmb5450]

Update: CPA states that he is obligated to use what is on the W2 since W2 states box 18 as local tax he used that. IRS called back and stated CPA should have used box 16 state tax. State and local income was different according to the W2. CPA says employer is at fault for this. IRS says CPA should know not to use box 18 as employers are not obligated to match local and state wages??? Currently waiting for IRS to look into this more. Basically a huge urinating contest between IRS CPA and employer. This is turning into a huge pain.


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[custmsprty]

Bewtween $71.00 and getting the IRS off my back, I'd pay the $71.00 all day long. :props:

[Dmb5450]

Bewtween $71.00 and getting the IRS off my back, I'd pay the $71.00 all day long. :props:

I agree, I just hate letting things go without a fight, I'm stubborn. I am thinking it is truly not worth the fight though.


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[AZpolisher15]

I had a similar thing happen two years ago. Got a letter saying I owed some odd dollar amount. After about a week of phone calls, voice recordings, and back and forth, without so much as a hint of getting closer to the answer, I gave up. Frustrating as that was. In the overall picture, it was less than 3% of what my tax bill was. Can mistakes me made? Sure. Is it worth the time and frustration to figure it out? Only you can decide. For me- my fight lasted a week + a couple hours on the phone, a lot of that with no one on the other end of the line. I do wish you luck though!

[Dmb5450]

I had a similar thing happen two years ago. Got a letter saying I owed some odd dollar amount. After about a week of phone calls, voice recordings, and back and forth, without so much as a hint of getting closer to the answer, I gave up. Frustrating as that was. In the overall picture, it was less than 3% of what my tax bill was. Can mistakes me made? Sure. Is it worth the time and frustration to figure it out? Only you can decide. For me- my fight lasted a week + a couple hours on the phone, a lot of that with no one on the other end of the line. I do wish you luck though!

Thanks for the support, hearing everyone say pay it and move on makes a lot of sense. I get too worked up about these kinds of things and usually forget that my time and added stress isn't worth the money.


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[Heartsoulauto]

CPA doesn't give same guarantee big box HR Block tax preparer does...
My understanding if you get audited and buy audit protection from HR they do all the calling. I'd pay the $71 and consider it a fee for a lesson in not using that CPA anymore they don't sound very professional.

[AZpolisher15]

Thanks for the support, hearing everyone say pay it and move on makes a lot of sense. I get too worked up about these kinds of things and usually forget that my time and added stress isn't worth the money.

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You and me are similar in our "grit", I think. You know, in instances like this... I have to remind myself of something. We love to have that extra "spending money" sitting around when we can; for things like microfiber towels and AG sales. But sometimes we might instead choose to spend it on peace of mind. It's not as much fun, but it, too, can be a real bargain.

[Dmb5450]

You and me are similar in our "grit", I think. You know, in instances like this... I have to remind myself of something. We love to have that extra "spending money" sitting around when we can; for things like microfiber towels and AG sales. But sometimes we might instead choose to spend it on peace of mind. It's not as much fun, but it, too, can be a real bargain.

Well said [emoji106], I need to do a better job of accepting this. It's funny though my wife said just let it go, pay and move on. My response was " do you know that I could buy another gallon of Uber rinseless for that amount?"


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[PaulMys]

Good post. I'd fight it if you are sure you were not in the wrong.

In 2006, NY State decided to send my wife & I an official notice that we did not pay what was owed to them after we submitted our taxes in the year 2002. (i.e. we owed them $233.60).

We had just bought our house and moved into it a month or so before. My wife who is normally pretty organized, could not find the box with the cancelled check that we had paid the amount with.

LSS, after about 2 weeks, and 3-4 threatening phone calls, she found the cancelled check. When she made the call to Albany (Capitol of NY, and their tax center), they promptly said "Our mistake, we apologize". Consider the matter closed.

My wife told them this: "Next time this state has to resort to extortion to collect a debt that has already been paid, it might be more effective to send a state trooper over to the house and pull his service weapon on us."

Complete silence, then "Again, I apologize ma'am".

I wonder how many thousands of residents of this rotten state could not produce their cancelled check, and were made to pay again?

Sick.

[AZpolisher15]

Yeah stuff like that is sickening, no doubt about it. Fighting it can also be sickening (time, stress, etc). Nevertheless, there's a dollar amount to be considered, and that number is different for everyone. If the OP's bill due was $971 or $271 instead of $71, I'd think differently. But to others, that $71 is really a lot of money.

Reminds me of my ongoing "struggle" with ATT and Apple. I paid $650 cash for an iPhone 7 in November for my mom. It was a lemon. Audio on calls is inaudible. By the time we figured it out, it was day 16, two days past ATT's 14-day "in house" warranty. To date, I've got 15 hours into attempting to get a replacement phone. And a combined 8 visits back to the ATT store and 5 visits to two different Apple stores. Hours and hours on customer support phone calls. Finally we were given a "refurbished" replacement phone (much to my chagrin). This "new" phone is having the same issue. I'm anticipating a repeat of what I've already been through once. I'm ready to throw in the towel. But I just keep thinking- how is it even legal to do this to a person? And then I realize this is probably all in the small print of everything we signed when we signed up.

Still not resolved, but I'll probably be throwing the phone at a brick wall after getting a new Samsung at Verizon :)