It's always something: Voluntary Payments IRS

[Carmella]

I called the IRS to verify my balances.

Little Rant I know they cannot collect debt/set up payment plans--not just IRS, but anyone: cars loans, mortgage loans. BUT it sure would be nice if we could SEE our balances and know what the heck we are supposed to pay without jumping through hoops. My car payment did start doing that mid BK saying it wasn't trying to collect a debt, but here's the...I forget what they called it, not "payment" some other word!

Ok rant over. A word to the wise.

If you are making post petition payments to IRS. You can call they tell you a balance. I went on my merry way to pay the balances.

I finally called today to verify it. The young man was nice, but inexperienced and it's the start of a holiday weekend so it was a skeleton crew of inexperienced workers and a complicated question.

Turns out that since husband and I file jointly the Liability is under HIS SS number. I paid through MY account on the IRS website so the credits were on MY SS number. The young man had to figure out how to switch the credits from me to the liability under husband.

Then I find out there was an over payment for one year and he "released the payment" that means the IRS will refund us almost $600. The next income tax year had an over payment and I asked "can it be applied to the next year" which he did. I am not happy that $600 is being refunded. I would rather had it pay on the balance since the end of BK is approaching I want this paid off . $600 would be wonderful!

I was silly enough to make a payment to IRS before I called. Of course, it isn't processed yet so it will be UNDER my SS and I will have to call back and have someone transfer it to husband's SS (will do at the end of next week).

He told me that there's another part of the website where you can choose the SS number to pay under so I will look for that or I will set up an IRS account for my non internet using husband and just pay through his SS number.

At least two years had over payments which is helping pay down the remainder of what we owe that is the good news.

I will see what happens with the almost $600 refund since he said it should come through the same method we received other refunds, we had no refunds, but we did have the stimulus. Hopefully it goes to that account. I did pay these taxes from a different account than the one we had on file for the stimulus hopefully that doesn't confuse them.

I didn't even ask how long it might take. I am assuming at least 4-6 weeks

If you need to call the IRS 7 a.m. EST on Friday was great no waiting. I got disconnected and immediately called back and got the same representative.

[sophieanne]

Sounds like you got an inexperienced rep so I can understand your anxiety. My husband and I file jointly..and have owed money jointly, and I use to make voluntary payments on an IRS account I set up. As I recall (this was a couple years ago) when making a payment it asks for what year, how you filed (married-filed jointly) etc. Because it is a joint filing and a joint account..it doesn’t matter which of you pays, the payment is credited to the joint account. Could you imagine if you had a joint debt, and the system showed you paid the whole amount yet your husband still owed the whole amount..TOTALLY NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!! The IRS is overworked and understaffed. I think you talked to a fairly new rep who doesn’t have all the training/experience and tried unsuccessfully to answer your question. Hopefully that refund will be released quickly and you can deposit and pay it back as quickly as you get it. Sounds like you’re close to the wire…you didn’t want a non-stress ending did you! Seriously, don’t worry this will all work out. Hopefully the IRS sends the refund quickly and you can deposit and pay your account quickly. I hope you and your family are doing well.

[Carmella]

Thanks sophieanne There are two ways to pay the IRS and I have seen the one where you have to enter your SS number. The platform I used is newer option where it is an account in my name and it verifies me whenever I sign in with a code through my phone. It also asks the year, but I don't re enter my SS number. I will try the other part of the website just to play it safe it's a little more time consuming since you have to enter more information.

The refund is supposed to be returned electronically. I didn't bother asking the guy on the phone a time frame. I would like to call back this Friday and verify that the past tax years are paid in full and verify how much is still owed. If the liability really is under my husband's social security then I want them to move the payment I just made so my SS number doesn't have a credit.

I will also check near the end of the week to see how much the trustee has paid the creditors and how close we are to the end

[sophieanne]

Hi..I think double checking is a good idea..however I’m pretty sure the liability is under both of your SSN’s. Anytime I made a payment or there was a change made by the IRS, individual notices were sent to both of us, not just my husband, even though his account is showing as primary. I just think you might want to ask to speak to a lead, or someone who can actually give you the correct information.

[Carmella]

I called this morning to follow up and got a really nice and knowledgeable lady. She said it has to go under the primary person's social security number. She checked for me and the transactions are still pending, should go through next week due the holiday. Even my payment last Fri that has cleared at the bank is not processed at the IRS she can see it pending.

I will need to call back next week and make sure the money under my social is transferred to husband's social and any other payments need to go under his social. The almost $600 won't come back to me until everything is out of pending status. I am glad it is getting straightened out now.

I need to make another payment so I will deal with that this weekend to get it under husband's social security number.

[sophieanne]

Hi Carmella ..I’m glad you’re getting it all sorted out. You’ll be done soon..yay!!!

[Carmella]

I followed up with the IRS again. I am so confused. The mess with paying under my SS# not husband who is the Primary is still getting sorted out. I still have pending payments. The lady I talked to was OK, but than Mr Inexperienced, but not as good as the lady who helped me last week.

Apparently now I still owe a small amount for one year and a larger amount for another year. I haven't started to pay for 2021 yet. The nearly $600 they refunded to me will take 30-45 days and I am already in that time period, but I don't know when the countdown started. I have all my receipts when I have made payments, so I know what I actually paid to them.

I understand the IRS is complication government agency and everyone I talk to has been lovely, but I still think it's the most asinine thing they cannot at least show us the balance and let us make voluntary payments easily during BK 13. Why can't there just be a non-bill/not a collection statement like my car loan and mortgage and my HELOC show me. I know what's what and when VOLUNTARY payments are made you see it. I will gladly check the box "I understand this is voluntary payment and not a collect for debt."

The amount changes when every time I call. Could it be interest, well maybe especially since when I pay under my SS# it was like a random credit in outer space (or should I say cyberspace) while the balance under husband SS# was still growing without any payments made to it.

We owe $58.11 to one year that I was previously told was paid off. I am paying that amount today under husband's SS#. But how did one year have over $500 when I have been told more than once it was paid in full. Well just maybe that's the credit that Mr Inexperienced decided to return to me. If I had to place a bet, I would bet that's why there's a random $500+ owed for one year! It never made sense when he said I had over payments.

I am going to put all my notes and my receipts into a folder because I don't want this mess to haunt us when they start the end of BK proceedings.

I will call the IRS next week, but I will be more organized and just ask about the balances and any credits that are not fully processed yet instead of repeating my whole story. It sounds like they have quite a tedious process. Payments are pending, then they are processed. All I know is the money clears my bank ASAP so I know they have it!

[sophieanne]

Carmella - Hi..I’m sorry you’re having this frustration. Have you set up an IRS online account? This will allow you to pull transcripts and reports that show all changes to your account—shows what you filed, any changes/adjustments after processing and shows payments you made, refunds, etc. you can access it from IRS.gov ..You can pull these by tax year.

[Carmella]

Carmella - Hi..I’m sorry you’re having this frustration. Have you set up an IRS online account? This will allow you to pull transcripts and reports that show all changes to your account—shows what you filed, any changes/adjustments after processing and shows payments you made, refunds, etc. you can access it from IRS.gov ..You can pull these by tax year.

To the best of my knowledge it will not allow me to do this because we are in active BK. I get a message saying something like it's not available. I have my own IRS account online which is how I was making payments. My husband does not have his own account. I paid under his SS through the "IRS Direct Pay" He isn't savvy with computers so he has me do it for him. Maybe he should set up an account maybe I can't see if not being primary on the tax return??

[sophieanne]

Hmmm...i just went in to view my tax records. The account was set up with my husband's SSN but it shows that tax returns are for both of our SSN's. Go to IRS.Gov (if you haven't already)..select Get your tax record...then select set up an acct, using your husband's information. You might want to try and see if that works for you (you need to have a cell phone number they can send a verification code to). You may be right that the info may be blocked, but this is for information that you filed so I'm not sure why it would be. Sorry it took so long to respond...the internet is misbehaving this morning.

[Carmella]

I was able to log on and see some information, but the payments I have made don't show up. There's only one the transferred credit showing up. I looked under my IRS account, but both of our names/numbers are listed on the reports.

[sophieanne]

They are really messing up things for you..hopefully they clean up things soon. Were you able to see the transcripts that show why you’re getting refunds? They helped me when I got an unexpected refund late last year..

[Carmella]

They are really messing up things for you..hopefully they clean up things soon. Were you able to see the transcripts that show why you’re getting refunds? They helped me when I got an unexpected refund late last year..

I am getting a refund because Mr Inexperienced IRS worker told me that there was an overpayment and he released it to me. He told me there were two years with over payments so I stopped him from releasing the other overpayment and had it transferred to the next year which I still owed money.

Yesterday the lady told me that one of the years I THOUGHT was paid off had a balance, just under the amount that is being refunded which makes me wonder if there was not really an over payment after all. And another year I owe $58 which I thought was paid off.

[Carmella]

My advice is NOT to call the IRS on a holiday weekend when there is a skeleton staff. The Inexperienced IRS worker did his best to help me. I really don't have a complaint against him, but he is still learning. If there was someone for him to ask or transfer my call I think it would have been a better outcome.

[Carmella]

OK I am tired of posting about the IRS so I think this is my last comment until maybe next Friday

Against my better judgement I called again, but it was worth it in the end. The lady I spoke to explained all the transactions are processing so there's no way to know the exact amount owed. That makes sense to me.

She told me I was NO LONGER in BK, it's discharged, to quote her she said "I am looking at the information from the court RIGHT NOW." She said to call the Collections and gave me their direction number. I will be able to set up a payment plan which avoids any garnishment proceedings for late taxes. She also told me to call back next week to collections and hopefully the transactions will be processed and then I can find out exactly what it is owed.

I have money to make a payment and since I haven't paid anything on the year 2021 that's the best place to make a payment under husband's SS# instead of the years still processing which I think are 2 paid in full and one will a low amount owed. But with all the transactions that are pending I don't want to make a payment and end up over paying and then have to have it transferred to a different year so I will stick with putting cash down on 2021.

Or maybe I will just hold that money because if I get a payment plan I can use the money as my first payment.

The heck of this is IF the wage deduction is stopped and I get a full paycheck in two weeks I could pay off these "stupid" taxes.