IRS Prematurely Asking for Money

A few years ago, the IRS routinely sent notices to taxpayers who filed tax returns prior to April 15th but didn’t pay their taxes until April 15th. After complaints from taxpayers and tax professionals, the IRS supposedly stopped this practice. Unfortunately, they’ve started it up again.

Taxpayers have until April 15th to pay their taxes. That’s a postmark deadline, so the payment can be received days later. I had two clients who received CP14 notices. Both of these individuals paper-filed in March, but paid on April 15th (one using EFTPS and one mailing a check). Both individuals payments cleared (the individual who mailed his check also received his certified mail receipt), so both believed they didn’t owe anything. Telephone calls to the IRS confirmed this.

In the case of my client who paid by EFTPS, there was no reason for the notice at all. The payment was made for April 15th; there was no reason for a notice to be sent. My client who paid by check said his check cleared on April 17th. One would think that the IRS would wait beyond the 17th for generating this notice. When the IRS ended this practice, we were told the IRS would wait a couple of weeks after the deadline to make sure that almost all payments would be matched with returns.

Given that it takes the IRS about two weeks to generate and mail a notice, it’s clear these notices were generated prior to April 15th (even though both notices were dated April 28th). Perhaps the IRS is only issuing these notices for paper-filed returns, thinking that most taxpayers who paper-file include a check with the return. Still, payment of taxes is not due until April 15th; there really is no reason why the IRS can’t wait until the calendar has really turned to April 28th to send out their CP14 notices for 2013 tax returns.

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