What are the chances of my federal return being accepted, then later on getting told it was wrong?

[StageLeft]

I e-filed and expect my return this week. I think everything should probably go smoothly, but how often do people file, get a return, then a year or two later INS comes back and says that their tax return was done wrong...?

 

[malbojah]

INS doing taxes??

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: malbojah
INS doing taxes??

DAMNIT. I deal with INS so much I keep slipping out letters. I mean IRS

 

[malbojah]

In the four or five years that I've filed my taxes over the phone, I have yet to have the IRS come back to me and say, "We screwed up, so now your screwed..."

 

[Pliablemoose]

They say 5-7 years, fact is they can go back a looonnngg way & ruin your life, literally....

 

[Queasy]

I was wondering the same thing because I ended up getting a fairly sizeable return this year.

I shouldn't be surprised because after my wife being laid-off and myself being laid-off, we dropped a tax bracket. Anyways, I did my taxes twice just to make sure and it came out the same so I have to go with it....not that I'm complaining about getting my money back.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Queasy
I was wondering the same thing because I ended up getting a fairly sizeable return this year.

I shouldn't be surprised because after my wife being laid-off and myself being laid-off, we dropped a tax bracket. Anyways, I did my taxes twice just to make sure and it came out the same so I have to go with it....not that I'm complaining about getting my money back.

Mine is pretty straightforward but I was reimbursed for moving expenses and although I did what taxcut said it just doesn't make sense. It's like I'm getting a couple hundred more than I should, but their program seemed to say it was fine so I'll just hope for the best I guess. Still pissed I OWE state taxes. GRR.

 

[3L33T32003]

I use a very very crafty tax attorney/cpa. I pay him 250 per hour. The first year I went to him he turned my life around. I was going to pay almost 5k in taxes, and he was able to get me a 600 dollar refund. The next year, after following his advice (specifically, incorporating and writing off just about everything) I was able to get a 6,000 refund. I have been with him 5 years now, and have got two letters from the IRS. One turned out to be their mistake, the other turned out that a deduction i had was disallowed. I ended up paying the feds 300 bucks for that one (on a return that netted me 4 grand).

His favorite saying is, "remember, the IRS is full of people who could not get real jobs in the private sector. None of them are living on yachts. How fscking smart could they be?"

One last thing...if they DO come back and nail you the average wait time on an audit is between 18 and 36 months. By then, you should have earned enough interest on what you have saved to make easy, monthly payments on whatever they negotiate from you.

Get a tax attorney who is also a CPA. You will pay out the rear, but you will NOT get reamed by the feds.

 

[StageLeft]

Get a tax attorney who is also a CPA. You will pay out the rear, but you will NOT get reamed by the feds.

Once we have a house and some more convuluted taxes I am sure I'll bail on these $20 software solutions, but as it is now our deductions don't equal the standard deduction amounts (not even close), we have no dependents, house, etc. so other than 401k contributions I have nothing special so I thought I'd just give this way a go.

In your case your guy definitely seems to be worth the money!

 

[sciencetoy]

The chances are low, but if you're the one chosen, statistics aren't much consolation. The big thing is to declare all income, and be able to prove it (checking account statements, etc). Screwing around with income is a big deal and can get you into trouble.

Take all the deductions you can possibly think of and if the IRS disallows them, you'll just owe money.

A good account is worth his/her weight in gold.

 

[3L33T32003]

Once we have a house and some more convuluted taxes I am sure I'll bail on these $20 software solutions, but as it is now our deductions don't equal the standard deduction amounts (not even close), we have no dependents, house, etc. so other than 401k contributions I have nothing special so I thought I'd just give this way a go.

In your case your guy definitely seems to be worth the money!

I did not have a house or convoluted taxes either. He still saved me a ton of money. He says tax prep software is for the chumps at H and R Block (the only people dumber than IRS agents, he says--guys at H&R are people who could not get jobs with the government). He also said that a good CPA will find you money that you did not know existed.

Look at it this way: if you spend a little more $$ up front, and save HUGE money in the back end, why not pay it?

The chances are low, but if you're the one chosen, statistics aren't much consolation. The big thing is to declare all income, and be able to prove it (checking account statements, etc). Screwing around with income is a big deal and can get you into trouble.

Take all the deductions you can possibly think of and if the IRS disallows them, you'll just owe money.

People are chosen for audit because they take deductions that fall outside of the set parameters in the IRS software that checks all of our returns. The people that know how to submit deductions that fall within the boundries set by the IRS are the ones cleaning up at tax time.

My CPA does own a yacht, btw. Hehe.

 

[ATLien247]

Originally posted by: 3L33T32003

My CPA does own a yacht, btw. Hehe.

I bet he's all for tax code reform then, eh?

And to remain on-topic, I made mistake on my returns a few years ago. Something didn't match between my federal and state forms. They notified me about six months after I had sent them in. Ended up getting about $300 more back from the state.

 

[FoBoT]

a very tiny percentage of returns are ever reviewed , let alone audited

if you made a math error, they will catch it, because all of the returns go into the IRS computer and they check the math

other than that, you are more likely to win the lottery than have the IRS question your return

 

[TubStain]

I e-filed around the 1st or 2nd, I havent received my federal yet, though I have received my state. Is that usual for the federal to take longer to be wired?

<---first job, first time e-filing

 

[BooGiMaN]

Originally posted by: 3L33T32003
I use a very very crafty tax attorney/cpa. I pay him 250 per hour. The first year I went to him he turned my life around. I was going to pay almost 5k in taxes, and he was able to get me a 600 dollar refund. The next year, after following his advice (specifically, incorporating and writing off just about everything) I was able to get a 6,000 refund. I have been with him 5 years now, and have got two letters from the IRS. One turned out to be their mistake, the other turned out that a deduction i had was disallowed. I ended up paying the feds 300 bucks for that one (on a return that netted me 4 grand).

His favorite saying is, "remember, the IRS is full of people who could not get real jobs in the private sector. None of them are living on yachts. How fscking smart could they be?"

One last thing...if they DO come back and nail you the average wait time on an audit is between 18 and 36 months. By then, you should have earned enough interest on what you have saved to make easy, monthly payments on whatever they negotiate from you.

Get a tax attorney who is also a CPA. You will pay out the rear, but you will NOT get reamed by the feds.

you sound like a freind of mine...did his taxes himself and got back lik 2k took the same ones to H&R and got back like 2500 took them to an accountant and he got him like 7k the guy told him all the same things this guys has told you, went to him like for 5 yrs and kept getting him likg 7k to 10 k consistently til one yr he went back and saw federal agents coming out of the guys house carrying boxes full of papers and files and his computer, needless to say my freind got all freaked out and was later called it for an audit.