Recent Feedback
I have recieved a a CP2000 notice from the IRS indicating I may owe $5100 in taxes due to a mistake on my 2010 filing. I am looking into this. That's not the question. My question is I have been subject to Treasury Offset of Federal Income Tax return for about ten years years due to student loans. Each year the Department of Education deposits any refund I have back into the the U.S. Treasury. On my 2010 taxes that I filed I had a refund coming to me of around $4200. If it turns out I DID make an error on my return, wouldn't I only owe the IRS $900 in these late taxes?
Optional Information: State/Country relating to question: North Carolina Already Tried: I'm on disability retirement from the federal government. I have a law degree and was a licensed attorney. Googled some stuff, but could use professional advice. There was not attempt to deceive government by getting big 2010 tax return as I knew I wasn't in line to receive it. That the treasury would get it. was just doing my taxes. Wrong possibly.
The CP2000 in and of itself doesnt' mean you did anything wrong or dishonest. It's a system generated notice which tells you that your information on your return didn't jive with the record the IRS had in their computers.
If you look at the last page of the CP2000 they will show you how they calculated the amount that you owe. The $5,100 is what you owe them out of pocket. The $4,200 refund was already given at the time of your return, so you owe that back. The fact that the amount went to the Treasury offset is moot. That money went over there, and now you have to pay it back.
My suggestion is this - look through your tax return with a fine tooth comb and see if you missed any deductions or credits you qualified for. IF it's a self employment 1099 which you didn't receive that triggered the extra taxable income, see if there were any expenses you forgot to claim. You can file an amended return and calculate the new Tax Liability. If you get the amount you owe down under $5,000 then you could potentially owe even less because you won't be subject to certain penalties.
Ok, sorry. I've been thinking about this awhile. And I started writing something completely different. But now I'm thinking I've been thinking about this thing all wrong and you're right it is moot. I just can't get my head around it. So just let me go through this again.Let's assume the IRS is right. I guess my fear is that I'm paying the treasury my Tax Burden twice if I write a check in 2012 because the treasury took about the same amount of money in 2010 as a refund. (That refund had to come from an over payment of taxes then, right? And then a lump-sum payment of taxes now two years later. Am I just really not wanting to see the logic here? There is NO possibility that my knee jerk reaction that an offset THEN and a payment NOW equals a double payment?
The IRS sent your refund to someone that you owed money to (the student loan people). If your return would have been calculated the way the IRS calculated it based on the information that fed into their systems, you would have owed them under $1,000 in taxes.
However, they refunded $4,200 and paid it to your creditor (the student loan folks). You now have to pay that $4,200 back PLUS penalties and interest. That's where the $5,000 comes in.
That's why I highly suggest you go through your tax return and make sure you claim all the deductions/credits you are entitled to. You might be able to get this burden down a bit.
Experience: Graduate Accounting Degree from Ole Miss