IRS applied payment to wrong year?

[trmiv]

So we owed money to the IRS for the first time in a long time this year. It was more than we could come up with at once so I sent them a decent sized payment along with the paperwork for a payment plan. They cashed the payment check quickly last month. Today I get a notice saying I owe them the entire amount from the return. I call the automated service and there was no record of my payment. The automated service allows you to search other tax years so i looked at 2012 and apparently they applied the payment to that year. But I got a refund in 2012! Now the automated system says my account has a credit balance for 2012 and I still owe the full amount from my return for 2013. The wait to talk to someone was over 60 minutes so I decided to wait until first thing Monday.

Anyone had this happen? Is it a total pain to get them to move the payment to the correct year? Also they charged me interest on the full amount from 2013 since they have no record no any payment. Will they recalculate that since they screwed up? They have a record they owe me now for 2012 so it should be simple right?

Oh and to top it off they also don't have a record that I requested a payment plan.

 

[rifken2]

The only advice I have to offer is that I hope you have a copy of the request you sent for a payment plan. If you have paperwork to prove it they are pretty easy to work with... without paperwork to back it up, well... in my experience, you may be SOL...

I haven't had this exact issue, I had them once say that I didn't pay them and I had to prove where I had and include proof of when I sent the payment. Because I couldn't prove when I sent it they made me repay them (they didn't cash the first payment I sent) and they made me pay the fees... Pain in the ass.

 

[trmiv]

I don't have a copy unfortunately. My mistake there.

The good thing is their automated system says they owe me money for 2012 so they do have a record of receiving the money. Even if they can't directly apply it to 2013 they would have to at least send me what they owe me now for 2012 and then I can turn around and pay it for 2013.....again.

 

[Fern]

The lesson here is that when making a payment to the IRS always state the tax year/period you meant it for in the description area. Keep a copy too.

Fern

 

[trmiv]

I don't get how they applied a payment to a year I don't owe tax though. I could see it if i owed for 2012 as well. The only year I owed them for was 2013 though. How do they then apply it to a year with a 0 balance? Makes absolutely no sense. Also it was sent in with forms for 2013 tax year so it's not like I just sent a random check.

 

[cabri]

Did you try to talk to a real person.

Or call the IRS tax payer advocacy office.

 

[trmiv]

The wait was over an hour and it was almost 6pm (they close at 7) so I didn't wait. I'm calling first thing Monday when they open. Just wanted to see if anyone else had similar issues.

 

[uclaLabrat]

The lesson here is that when making a payment to the IRS always state the tax year/period you meant it for in the description area. Keep a copy too.

Fern

I did precisely that and the morons still applied it to current year taxes, I.e. Instead of applying the payment to my outstanding bill, they tried to prepay my current taxes while charging penalties for late payments. Fucking morons.