I owe the IRS $4,000

[siberian khatru]

So I get home and the wife says she’s got bad news: A letter from the IRS saying we owe $4,000 on our 2018 taxes.

Apparently, she sent all the right paperwork to our tax preparer, but when the preparer returned the completed forms she forgot to include one. My wife failed to check that and signed the return (and got me to sign off, trusting her) and sent it off.

So here we are. My wife is afraid I’m going to divorce her. (I’m not.)

Anyone have an experience like this? Do we have any recourse? That 4 Grand could buy a lot of Super Bowl swag.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by KS Smitty

Also does your preparer have some kind of "we'll help if if we ****ed up" kind of guarantee?

Ironically, our eldest daughter just told me that H.R. Block wrote her a check for $4,000 on a screw up they made. Odd it is the same number of the OP.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Mennonite

This seems like terrible advice. You're basically giving the government an interest free loan in exchange for what exactly? You end up paying the same amount in the end, and you could have used the income you prematurely forked over to invest in something that could have actually made you money.

With the refund back, you can fork it over to invest in something that can still make you money.

Again, it's not for everyone, I understand that. For me personally, it's just a simple strategy for me that I'd rather pay my taxes/bills first and not get absolutely murdered with interest and penalties. Those are a killer, especially if there are tax law changes for federal and state.

Then whatever left I get back, I move it over to my retirement or funds to garner more interest back.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I always despise this take. Yes, it's technically true, but unless you are overwithholding by thousands, you're losing like $20 in the interest at most. That's well worth it to avoid the possibility of big bills come tax time for many.

Especially the fact that interest accumulates daily.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Awesome, Dude, I'm happy for you both!

But seriously, people, if you're paying someone to prepare your taxes, at least take a cursory look before signing your name.

This is correct. As a taxpayer, you are responsible for what you put on the forms, regardless of the accountant does.

Generally, most all accountants are good and honest people, but just to make sure YOUR ass is covered, you should go over it with the accountant and make sure the accountant EXPLAIN it to you in plain English, where their numbers are coming from the 1040's to the forms that you gave them.

If you have questions or unsure, ASK. And if you're still unsure, take a UNSIGNED copy of it and get a second opinion.

Because once you sign it and submitted, it's a done deal.

[BryanBusby]

Originally Posted by lewdog

This guy gets it.

Unless you are leveraging as much money as you can day trading in the stock market, the "interest" amount you may miss is negligible for almost everyone. I always end up with a small return each year (This should be most people's goal as breaking even is tough to calculate). It's WAY better than owing any amount of money.

It's not a big deal to end up owing money as long as it's a number South of $1,000. Always paid in more money in April when I was single, but it was always a trivial amount like $300.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I always despise this take. Yes, it's technically true, but unless you are overwithholding by thousands, you're losing like $20 in the interest at most. That's well worth it to avoid the possibility of big bills come tax time for many.

I don't see the issue so much as money I could have had for myself as much as giving the gov't something for nothing. They get more than their fair share as it is.