So the IRS wants to count my W-2 from 2022 twice

[dandarc]

So this is fun.

Just got an abatememt for $19.5K for my 2021 soloK thing.

And today I get a notice that seems to indicate they want to now double-count my W-2 for 2022.

So trade one $20,000 tax bill for another $20,000+ tax bill. But this one is clearly fucking wrong in that it they literally want to count my salary twice for 2022 vs. just you known, the one time I reported it.

Fuck the IRS and fuck Wave accounting for fucking up my filing in spite of paying for their payroll "service" for 2021 and 2022 - fuck these guys 1000%.

[bacchi]

Is this a CP2000 letter?

I received a CP2000 when the IRS counted a work 1099 twice. I sent a polite but firm letter with evidence, and another one, and another one, and finally they fixed it. I wasn't sure if my letters were being shredded immediately or if the reader was being obstinate or what. It was frustrating.

[dandarc]

Is this a CP2000 letter?

I received a CP2000 when the IRS counted a work 1099 twice. I sent a polite but firm letter with evidence, and another one, and another one, and finally they fixed it. I wasn't sure if my letters were being shredded immediately or if the reader was being obstinate or what. It was frustrating.

Yeah - I know it is a relatively easy fix. Frustration mainly because I got home last night after 1:00 AM (on my own for hopefully only the next 2 weeks while wife is dealing with some family stuff in her hometown - we split the drive up there, then I returned via plane). So I walk in bleary-eyed and in the stack of mail collected by the pet-sitter while both of us were away is an IRS letter - and it was only about a month ago that I finally got a "yep you're good - no money owed" on a 5500EZ I screwed up in 2022.

Got a little triggered there - also I thought I told Wave not to send the W2 when I cancelled their service because they just wouldn't fix the problem last year, and yet here we are with same W2 being sent twice with different numbers - I sent an accurate one myself via TurboTax business. Paying $8 / month for payroll now instead of $40 and the provider is both local and managed to get the form correct the first time.

[reeshau]

Screwups can happen at any level.  And I think too many people have in mind, "I've handed it over to a professional.  They've got it, and I don't have to think about it."  You sign, too, and you are on the hook for screwups.  Even with the big boys.

During my time in Ireland, I benefited from the Special Assignees Relief Program, or SARP.  It basically reduced Irish income taxes to match US rates, for a period of time.  It did this by taking a percentage of income off your Gross Income amount, which all their taxes are calculated from.  Our company used Deloitte for employee tax services.  They briefed us on how it would work, and made projections to help us decide to go there, or not.  The first year we did taxes, I was following along, for both Irish taxes (which I was totally new to, but read up on) and US taxes.  I couldn't get the US tax calculation to line up, and eventually walked Deloitte (to their annoyance, judging by their tone) back to the Irish gross income.

"So, you begin US taxes based on the Irish gross income?"

"Yes."

"And that is after the SARP credit is applied?"

"Yes."

<me, thinking how to put this>

"So, you're telling me the US Federal government recognizes SARP?"

<silence on their part>

Not long after, everyone's US taxes went up a bit.  It was bad news in the moment, but it would have been worse news if someone (the top execs) had been audited.  Or, when I tell the US Social Security Administration about my time in Ireland, to apply my Irish social pension payments.  If those happened, it is the taxpayer on the hook for penalties; Deloitte disclaimed responsibility.

It became a bit of a legend that I figured out an Irish tax provision and had to connect the dots for them.

[dandarc]

I mean, yeah professionals often suck at their jobs. Not all of them all of the time, but a lot of not-very-deep thinkers manage to get into these types of jobs.

For this one, I actually have a thread of more than 15 emails telling people at Wave over and over again what the W2 should say and actually pointing out some other report in their system that they kept pointing to "but it matches . . ." was also broken.

Doing their QA team's job for them, except nobody actually listened to me. Last email is from me and says "still waiting on the corrected W2". Which they never did get to me, but I did find that I could submit W2s from Turbotax Business, so I used that to send a form with the correct figures.

So hopefully that, along with copies of incorrect and correct W-2 and the letter explaining what happened will suffice. Maybe they will say I need to get / send in a W2-C vs. just accepting the explanation and documentation.

[Sibley]

Hey, I had to handle an IRS tax notice last night for my parents. What they wanted was copies of the forms which supported the tax withholdings reported on the 1040. Those forms? The social security 1099s. Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

There was also a bit of a tax mess last year for my parents because they paid their tax bill, but the IRS' system go confused somehow and both wouldn't accept the payment and demanded the payment.

Errors happen. Address them, but don't let them ruin your day.

[dandarc]

I think I'm going to call and verify this, but "if I can get the employer (who is me) to send a W2-C setting the W2 that is wrong to zero, does that clear this up?"

[Much Fishing to Do]

I just had my local township send a tax bill from 2 years ago for $2k with no explanation.  After digging in found out they didnt count one of my quarterly estimates, so I of course owed zero instead.

In the end taxing authorities seem to similar to healthcare facilities (and related insurance (non)payments), where they'll just send a bill without any explanation and hope you pay it.  I helped my sister who was so upset about a $10k bill from a hospital her insurance denied, which made zero sense as she had good insurance and it was an emergency, and after a long explanatory letter they came back and said if she dropped her challenge she would owe nothing. 

I'm certain if she sent the $10k check they would have cashed it. I'm certain if I sent my taxing authority the $2k check they would have cashed it.

Don't assume you owe what you are billed, and definitely don't give up when you know you are right even though the hospital is threatening sending to a collection agency and the taxing authority is threatening with worse, which of course they both were.  Fucking Bastards.

[eyesonthehorizon]

... In the end taxing authorities seem to similar to healthcare facilities (and related insurance (non)payments), where they'll just send a bill without any explanation and hope you pay it. ...

I'm certain if she sent the $10k check they would have cashed it. I'm certain if I sent my taxing authority the $2k check they would have cashed it.
...

This is exactly how insurers operate because it nets more in revenue than they’d ever pay in penalties or lawsuits to be in conflict with their own terms. UHC got caught using an algorithm which denied 90% of claims in one recent case.

Up to you whether this is better or worse, but the IRS is more concerned with whether their calculations are met by your payments than how much actually comes in. They’re the ultimate dispassionate accountants who just want the numbers to line up, so if you send a check, or you show them where their error or oversight is with evidence, they’ll accept it equally gladly. Unlike the insurance higher-ups, they aren’t cursing you for foiling a profit opportunity or leaning on their underlings to run you down, & will usually be remarkably helpful on the phone with information if you can wait. Your local taxing authority, however, I make no claims about.

[Much Fishing to Do]

... In the end taxing authorities seem to similar to healthcare facilities (and related insurance (non)payments), where they'll just send a bill without any explanation and hope you pay it. ...

I'm certain if she sent the $10k check they would have cashed it. I'm certain if I sent my taxing authority the $2k check they would have cashed it.
...

This is exactly how insurers operate because it nets more in revenue than they’d ever pay in penalties or lawsuits to be in conflict with their own terms. UHC got caught using an algorithm which denied 90% of claims in one recent case.

Up to you whether this is better or worse, but the IRS is more concerned with whether their calculations are met by your payments than how much actually comes in. They’re the ultimate dispassionate accountants who just want the numbers to line up, so if you send a check, or you show them where their error or oversight is with evidence, they’ll accept it equally gladly. Unlike the insurance higher-ups, they aren’t cursing you for foiling a profit opportunity or leaning on their underlings to run you down, & will usually be remarkably helpful on the phone with information if you can wait. Your local taxing authority, however, I make no claims about.

Understood, and I mostly agree.  But there is just the fact that there is (at least an perceived) difference between when I tell the insurance co. to go fuck themselves and the taxing authority.  Maybe its just imagined, but I feel like one is more intimidating when they "ask" for money.

[eyesonthehorizon]

Understood, and I mostly agree.  But there is just the fact that there is (at least an perceived) difference between when I tell the insurance co. to go fuck themselves and the taxing authority.  Maybe its just imagined, but I feel like one is more intimidating when they "ask" for money.

Absolutely. The difference in power is stark, but when they aren’t actually out to get you it does make sidestepping realized consequences a lot easier when you are being honest. I just learned apparently if two or more W-2s from the same EIN come through, in some software, all the numbers get summed as if it was one document; it’s a way around having too few boxes at certain e-preparers. So they had no reason to notice the duplication either, probably.