I Know I Paid That

Update - I did not make shrimp provençal for dinner last night, but I did make pan-seared salmon…which I love almost as much as Julia Child. 

Today is Tuesday.  Which means time for a tax tip. 

I get lots and lots of tax questions.  My phone blows up from February through April.

The rest of the year, I seem to get one repetitive tax question.

“I paid my tax bill, but the IRS is still sending me a bill.  How do I find out where that money went?”

Here’s the problem.  99.9999999% of payments to the IRS are paid by credit card or check. These days, most checks don’t have social security numbers.  Neither do credit card payments.  To the Service, you are that number. 

First, if you ever have to send in a payment, if you don’t have a bill, include at least the last four digits of your SSN on the check.  And either pay it online through your bank or mail it **delivery conformation.**  If it gets lost, the IRS doesn’t care.  If you have delivery confirmation, you can prove that it got there, at least.  Then, it’s not your problem; it’s theirs.

But if you did just sent in a random payment and now need to track it down, here’s how:

1.                  Call 1-800-829-1040.

(First, 1040 – clever, right?)  That number is the taxpayer assistance helpline.  You call them and give them your SSN.  They can pull up your account.

2.                  Ask for a transcript of your account.  Key word: transcript.  You’ll need to tell them what years you need.  (Hint:  Ask for the year before & after what you actually need.)  That transcript will tell them & you if there are any payments applied to your account.  They can fax it or mail it to you.

3.                  Hang up!

Do not get into a conversation with this person about your missing payments.  You are wasting your time.  They are just going to tell you the following steps.

4.                  Get a front & back copy of your check (even if you have to pay the extra money for a copy from your bank) or a copy of your credit card statement.

5.                  Make a copy of your transcript & check/credit card statement.  Address any errors that you’ve noted.  Misapplied payments, payments that are missing, etc.  Mail the copies and letter **delivery conformation** it to the address where your return is/should be mailed to.  (You can look it up at http://www.irs.gov/.) 

6.                  If after six weeks, you’ve received no response, you can call to follow up.  Or, better yet, take all this information to your local Taxpayer Assistance Center.  (Again, you can find the local office on the website.)  You can also do this first, but most people don’t have the time.

Anyhow, I hope you never have to use this post, but if so, just keep this filed away in your memory.

Or, if you’re me,  remember that someone once told you…and then, go look it up again!!!