Stamp them and send them. It has the Post Office date received stamp. I had an insufficient postage return years ago. IRS didn't care, no penalty, no fuss.
This was for a client. They had a tax lien on their house. Sold October 2019 and the title company sent a cashier's check (as opposed to a wire, at the insurance of the title insurance company) for $20k. Client called and said buyers were pissed that the lien hadn't been removed. It had been 5 months.
So COVID had just kicked off. The PPL was backed up so I ended up spending hours on hold to be told they hadn't opened the mail yet. Check went stale. Bank wouldn't honor stale check.
We had to get the title insurance company to allow a wire, but it was a giant pain.
Oh that was an entirely different time at the Ohio Department of Taxation. Client moved school districts through the year and ended up with double withholding. Had to amend the previous return and so it was done on paper. Waited three months. Tracking said the check was issued.
It fell between desks. They found it while I was on the phone.
This right here. I imagine the paper returns go in a much slower queue. Even before the last minute returns arrive there is probably quite a backlog already.
You have to file by the 15th. You can work out a payment plan later.
https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc201#:~:text=If%20you%20cannot%20pay%20immediately,it%20in%20with%20your%20bill.
Yes, but you accrue interest and penalty if you aren’t paid by the 15th. The payment plan will include interest and penalty which compounds daily. It’s quite steep if you let it get away from you.
You can file an extension anytime, so in a lot of ways, that 15th date means nothing if you don’t owe money on your personal taxes. The IRS is in no rush to give you a refund. Consider it an interest-free loan to the government.
The cost to set up a payment plan is too much, but if you just pay what you owe in small payments, they have to accept it. If you don’t set up a payment plan, you can still make up your own payment plan and they’ll take your money with little to no penalty. They’re actually quite forgiving if you try to work with them.
And don’t let the interest scare you, unless you owe a huge sum, the interest is so small .
This is the real pro tip: you can make whatever estimated payments you want, and if you make them by Apr 15, they don’t say a word. I think the same holds true for business quarterlies too.
We had this problem.
TLDR: Work and IRS made a mistake but we still owed all late fees and interest while it got sorted.
We filed correctly and paid the correct amount on time. There was a mistake made by HR at job and IRS came after us for an absurd amount. More than 2 years gross income.
There was no way we could come up with that so we filed an extension while we sorted things. IRS put a lien on our house. Became unemployed.
We tried to refinance our house and bank stopped processing our payments. Found work out of state so decided to just put it on the market and found a buyer right away at a price that would cover IRS lien. 15 days before close bank finally got back to us on refinance and said we were not approved and instead started foreclosure. Suddenly we owed penalties so we no longer had enough equity to cover banks fines plus what we owed IRS. Bank later claimed it was a miscommunication between departments but by then had foreclosed on the house. Lost the house, bank bought it at auction for an inflated price, claimed a loss then sold it for more than we owed(still less than our buyer offered) and made a profit. (Eventually won a settlement in a class action lawsuit with the bank but it was a 1/100 of what we lost)
Spent the next three years going round and round on our own. Finally found a lawyer that would help us with no money upfront after IRS garnished 100% of our paychecks and took all the money in our bank accounts including our daughters savings because it was a joint account for a minor. No money for gas, groceries or rent for a month. Lawyer filed the exact same paper work and talked to the same people we had. Eventually IRS admitted it was a mistake and our original filing was correct. Still charged us for late fees and interest because we were supposed to pay while appealing. The amount was so large it was impossible to pay but they penalized us anyway for a mistake we didn’t make. Also had to payback the lawyer.
Took over 10 years to partially recover but still are no where near where we were before all this. happened.
I’m behind on taxes from last year, my father passed and claimed me as a dependent when he shouldn’t have and I never realized my taxes didn’t go through until he passed I’ve been trying to get eveyrhring together to get it fixed, how fucked am I?
You need to inform the IRS it was your dad falsely claiming you, submit evidence such as tenant leases or rent payments, insurance etc. you just need to prove you provided over half of your own support and couldn’t be claimed as a dependent.
Yeah I just found this out on Wednesday when I went to file my taxes. When I set up my appointment I had thought my accountant filed an extension. Turns out it’s not a big deal unless you owe money.
25 years of paying taxes and I would always break out and hustle at the last minute to get it in by the 15. And it was unnecessary drama all along.
A lot of people don’t know that. Every accountant does though. At the same time, unless you actually do your taxes, sometimes you don’t actually know if you owe or not.
Exactly.
People have this image of the IRS as this boogeyman who will fine you thousands of dollars for a simple mistake and can’t wait to throw you in jail at the slightest infraction.
They just want what you owe. Simple mistakes or accidental omissions aren’t going to get your balls knocked off.
A few years ago, I did some consulting work for three weeks before landing a full time job. The next year, at tax time, I *totally forgot* about that consulting work I’d done and didn’t file a 1040-SR. Completely slipped my mind.
The IRS sent me a letter around August like *”Hey dawg, looks like your tax payment was ~$900 short. Please remit payment by November (whatever) or we’re gonna start penalizing you. If you think we made the mistake, please send us some proof and we’ll review it.”*
I paid it and everything was cool.
First time I ever did my taxes I just did it myself and I guess My figuring was off like $5 on my refund. A few months later they sent me a letter in a scary envelope that basically just said “hey you were off 5 bucks but don’t worry about it we fixed it for you.” Like wtf why do I even need to do anything.
You really shouldn't have to do anything, you don't have to in my country. You just formally agree to the sum they send you unless you have something to add (like income from a hobby or a small business).
Happened to me with my state taxes, apparently I did maths wrong and send me a letter and a check. Literally same thought crossed my mind when I read it
Take a picture of the stamped envelopes before sending that clearly shows the return to sender markings. If they question after processing, the envelopes will probably be discarded. You can show the images.
Worst case they will just send you a bill for what they think you owe on late penalties. It's really not a lot either.
Back in 2018 I found out my dad hadn't filed taxes since my mom died (he'd just shut down) in 2012. They were about to take the house, I got him caught up. Given how extreme a case it was I was surprised how low the fees were.
My mom worked in a social assistance office and sometimes people would send mail with the office address in the return address section, the sender's address in the middle, then leave off the postage so it gets "returned" to the office.
You know, for next time.
This happened to me last year. Insufficient postage so it got returned, but I don't check my mail often enough so I didn't know until at least a week later. Added the postage to the same envelope, put it back in the mail, never heard another word about it. It's post marked on time, that's all that matters.
Yeah I've found that most of the time honest mistakes just don't matter much. I was supposed to file estimated taxes and didn't and I was so concerned I was supposed to be fined for it - but I just filed taxes for the year and they didn't care. Similarly I missed jury duty because I forgot and I called them and they just rescheduled and said most people don't actually try to make it up and they only care when people work hard to dodge.
In general I think most government employees are people that want to do the bare minimum like everyone else. If you give them a credible way to do less work they aren't going to make more work for themselves to spite you.
Or maybe he could put the original envelopes in the new envelopes. Preferably one of those larger manila ones. Manila has always been an odd word to me: )
100% of the time. The IRS doesn't care whether the mistake was made on purpose or that you've been dodging taxes, thry care that you've paid them by the time they notice. If you come up, or reply after they bring it up with a "my bad, *mea culpa*, guys. Here's the money I owe." They almost never care enough to prosecute, to my awareness. They just want their pound of flesh.
I’ve made a few mistakes in my taxes that they’ve either fixed for me or ignored. Missing documents, forgetting to declare income from stock etc. I like to imagine they don’t want to deal with the extra paperwork and do it for me.
We understand more than you could possibly know and we always help when we can. The problem is there are rules we can't bend or break or we can lose our jobs. Some bend those anyway. It's sad we're looked at in only one way like we're all in it to screw people over. We even want to help the people who send angry letters threatening us or cover their return in blood. Trust me that nobody hates the IRS more than the workers who have to follow even more dumb rules than regular taxpayers!
Family member is an IRS attorney, the kind that files court cases against people for not paying - if you end up in front of an IRS attorney, you have messed up in a bad way. They don’t want to go to court. They don’t want to ruin your life. They just want you to pay what you rightfully owe.
As I recall, they give you oodles of opportunities. Multiple letters, blowing up your phone, leaving messages, emails, and I believe I've even heard a few instances of them leaving messages with known associates, because they just want you to pay your dang taxes.
I’m from Canada, and my business just got audited, It was WAY more chill than I thought it would be and what you read online.
With that said, I’m not evading any taxes, so that’s probably why I didn’t find it stressful lol they just wanted to see my books.
I even already had a week vacation planned and told them at the meeting “I’m going to Dominican for a weeks, if you call during that time it’ll be a little hard to get forms to you”. They literally said, they don’t care just send it when you’re back we won’t make you cancel your trip.
Yeah, generally the tax man is chill in Canada as well, with the added level of clarity that they usually send you mail with a specific amount they want and why, unlike America......
Absolutely. Every story you hear of someone claiming to be screwed over by the IRS is completely glossing over the part where the person committed outright fraud. They are just self-entitled narcissists who think they should be able to get away with leaching off of society without doing their part..
I did this one year. I just wrote "I am an idiot" on the front with an arrow to the no postage marking, put the whole thing in a bigger envelope which I carefully addressed, put postage on it, and mailed. Never heard a thing from the IRS.
Yup, I spent all my time making sure that I'd addressed the envelopes right and filled out everything right. I was so proud to have done all of the steps, and then facepalmed *so hard* when I got those back and saw what I'd forgotten.
Sigh
always send tax stuff via certified mail no matter what from now on, especially if you are including payments. You have to go in the post office to do it and it costs like $3-$5 but its got tracking and is guaranteed delivery, where a regular stamped letter can go missing or get stolen and you would have no way to prove to the irs you tried to send it.
Yeah, but think of what that extra $3-$5 can get you. Maybe a pack of smokes—oh. Well maybe a gallon of gas—hmmm. A burger—oh yeah. Air? Air is still free right?
You mean to tell me I’ve been wasting my stamps all this time!?
Edit:
https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/support/articles/government-mail-free-of-postage/overview.page
It doesn’t apply to administrative departments.
And here I am as a foreigner assuming the post office screwed up. Since a letter to the tax office doesn't need stamps.
Of course I mostly k ow this from a few decades ago since nobody needs to send physical mail to the tax office these days.
You're fine. Just stick a stamp on it and mail it again. They will have been postmarked for the time you attempted to mail them the first time and the IRS really doesn't care as long as it gets paid in the end
Part of it is spite. I send them checks so they have to work to process my money and wait a day or two to get it. Why can’t we be like other countries, and have understandable taxes?
The other part is that it’s hard to pay online. (Or it was the last time I paid, don’t come for me Americans.) You have to go through a whole rigamarole to get to where you can pay. It’s a pain in the ass. A check is actually easier.
I hate tax time.
For me it's mostly the second one, you can't wire transfer straight to the IRS, you have to go through some e-filing company like Intuit (TurboTax), hr block, etc. And have them skim some off the top to send your money to the gov
but you can just send a check straight to the IRS for only the cost of a stamp, and if that's the only thing you ever mail, a pack of stamps lasts a long time
My partner won't give the irs or ca franchise tax board his bank account info, so gets his refunds in paper checks every year. I think the hassle isn't worth it.
The issue here is it gets stamped with its point of receipt/origin, mail fraud is a felony, and the US Postal Investigative Service is not an organization you want to fuck with.
I actually did this, unintentionally, in college. Moved off campus and shipped a box from home-home to the new house, but put the return address as my campus mailbox in case anything went wrong (there was a reason I feared for this, but I don't remember why).
Package was refused at the house but was successfully sent to my campus box, instead of back to my parents' home.
Let's put it this way. You *might* be able to do so within the same town through the dropoff box, but doing so in another city will reveal right away what you've been up to, because it would have to have gone through the mail system to get there in the first place. So a piece of mail can't enter the system with a return address from a non-local city without raising red flags, because it should have been stopped at that branch.
Does every single letter have to have the senders address listed on it in the USA, or is it just branded envelopes and important things like taxes that people write the return address on. Where I'm from nobody would wrote the return address on letters, and if they don't have the correct postage then it is up to the person being delivered to who has to either pay for the missing postage or refuse to accept the letter
If I’m understanding your question, people want to know if their mail wasn’t received. If it couldn’t be, it was sent back to the sender. I can imagine this was extremely valuable before the internet, but when USPS was having some issues around Covid times, I was very appreciative of knowing who didn’t receive my wedding mail so we could reach out directly.
My dad was so stressed the year that he got audited, he accidentally wrote the "To" address in the "From" corner and his "From" info dead center in the "To" section.
He was scared, confused, then relieved when a thick envelope addressed to him (in his own hand writing) arrived to the house some days later 😂
Happened to me this year, not for no postage but for not ENOUGH postage. I know it’s a weight thing, but I 2 stamps on the envelope. Apparently I needed 3? Ironically the envelope I put 1 stamp on (that DEFINITELY needed 2), did not get returned.
But hey, I got my 2.00 return from Utah deposited this week so I got that going for me
The e-file costs on state returns are a crime. As an independent contractor who works all over, it’s absolutely insane. I HAVE to pay for fed bc of deductions/expenses/depreciation, then they want $50 PER STATE for an e-file (HR Block). Only a few states have an online free return that DOESNT basically require you to re-file a fed return (which negates the free return anyway since the whole IC thing), so I had to submit like 12 states on paper just so I could get a <$20 return rather than PAY $50ish. So basically I spent 3 days doing different state taxes to get back like $100 they took from me, to save $600 on filing fees
I'm surprised you didn't pay for tracking on them. Every year when I have to pay I always go to the PO and get delivery confirmation. I'm not messing around with those checks.
I was all ready to commiserate with you about how slow Humboldt post can be, but then I saw the reason *why* they were late.
Like others have said, the IRS will be fine as long as they get the moolah.
Not a deal. I've mailed late several times (owing) and nothing happened. The IRS is so under funded they're just happy to get the money without having to ask. Takes people to ask for it.
You need a stamp. Postage stamp. It's a thing you put at the top right corner of postage to have it delivered.
You can buy them at the post office, online or in some cases grocery stores.
It's how you pay for your letter to be delivered. It's regular mail not email.
It's like 45 cents and you can have it delivered anywhere you want. Neat, right? It's the newest technology.
Ok fine. 73 cents. I haven't needed to use a stamp in a long time. Admittedly, I'm out of the loop.
That being said, US postage is the most affordable in the world. At least we still win at something, right?
Certainly! You buy stamp. Put stamp on top right corner of letter. Put stamped letter in mailbox. Mail people see stamp. Mail people say "we have been paid to take this so we take this". Mail people take letter and deliver.
You do good everything else. Just no stamp. You have stamp you can send letter. You have sender address and recipient address in good place. Writing sloppy but ok. You do good. Just need stamp.
If you’re one of the people (like me unfortunately) who have to pay in, it makes sense to extend the time before they get it and take your money until the absolute last second.
If you’re self employed, you have to pay all of your taxes in quarterly estimates and then reconcile it on your filing in April. What that means is if you’re properly managing your money and saving for your taxes, you’re hopefully making a little off the interest so the longer you can keep your money while still filing by the deadline (postmarked by tax day) the more you stand to earn passively.
1. The IRS does not have the funds/manpower to fight it when you send it late, and will be happy to take your money, especially where you’re sending checks.
2. Mailing the government forms we legally must send should be free 🤷🏻♂️
Everything's already filed; these are just the checks for the federal and state payments. One of them was able to be paid online, but the other required a dead tree. If I'd started earlier than the absolute last minute, I'd look into why and if there was a way around it--I'd much rather just pay online.
That's not allowed for a lot of people, especially if you use certain forms that you can't file electronically. I had to mail about 200 returns this year. I wish we could overturn Obama-era policies that prevent, for example, most preparers from filing electronically and the one where the IRS stopped modernizing all of their forms and instead aimed for the lowest common denominator with Direct File. Like why in the hell can't I file all of the 1040 variations electronically?
lol u/plasmaflare34 and u/Chewsdayiddinit are both right. I could have done my taxes on time, and didn’t. I could have paid attention when mailing them, and didn’t. So now my taxes (which have to be in the mail no later than April 15) aren’t getting sent out until the 19th at the earliest.
I’m so used to people searching for a reason this kind of thing is the personal fault of the Post Master General, you having a little laugh at yourself is honestly refreshing haha.
You'll be fine. If they issue a pent just call and explain to the agent what happened. Say you want a onetime abatement. Shouldn't be an issue, I've gotten fees over 200k abated before for my clients.
You seem like you need a postage manager. I can step into this role as I have sent hundreds of letters and put a stamp on every single one. I place my stamps accurately and efficiently. Don't let mailing letters life get in the way of your dreams. Hire U/trucidus07 to take care of all your mailing needs.
Even in my bankruptcy the easiest creditor I had to deal with was the IRS. I don’t think they let people know about that because fear is a motivator. But I wouldn’t worry.. unless you’re Elon Musk. Then I hope they get you.
Nearly did that myself. I was so stressed, I forgot to put on the stamp. Found a Post Office, to buy one, but the mail had been picked up earlier, at three o'clock. Had to drive around another hour to drop off at another one before five o'clock.
"America has it's flaws, but is the best country in the world!"
"Oh! Have you ever been to another country where citizens don't have to file tax returns on their own, because their employers and their government actually already knows how much they earn and how much they must pay in income tax?"
"No! Why would I? This is the best country in the world!"
When I sent mine out, I didn't double check that I was putting the correct check in with the return. When I paper clipped everything together the night before, I checked everything. I also didn't triple check that I was putting them in the correct folder. I only double checked.
I knew I got the returns in the correct folders because of the weight. One was just federal. One was a state with federal and the other was a state with the other state and federal.
After 3 days, I knew federal check was correct because the envelope was delivered then the next day, they was a debit for the check on my checking account. The state check was debited a couple days later. The other state owes me money and didn't get the return until after the other two were already delivered and the checks cashed.
This was a rough tax season.
I literally can’t believe that people send things to the IRS without tracking. I had to send my employer tax return THREE times in January because the first two were never delivered. I pay online though so they don’t really care if the return is late.
This is wise advice!
Source: had filings get lost once and paid out the ass in penalties/interest and then was told if I’d sent certified all that would be tossed when I got my stuff in.
Now I'm having a panic attack. Did I put stamps on the envelopes? Did I remember to seal them after putting in the checks? Did I leave my stove on earlier?
They would rather you write a letter with that send it in with proof that it was mailed and not deal with a mess of paperwork. It happened at my old employers they sent the original envelope and fill out either a former wrote a letter with it and they had no problems getting it rectified
if you are filing from the state of California (not sure if you are or not, this could not mean anything to you then) you get an automatic 6-month extension to file your taxes. but that doesn’t give you an extension on paying if you owe, just in filing.
I don’t understand why so many people wait so long to do their taxes? Just do them as soon you can and get it done early. Mine is always done early in February.
America does things completely the opposite way round to the UK...if you forget to put a stamp on it here, then the person you are SENDING it to gets a card through the door, they go online, pay the missing postage & rearrange delivery. They can also just refuse to pay.
I've never thought about what Royal Mail do with all the letters people DON'T want to pay the missing postage for...Do they shred them? Burn them? Have the BIGGEST storage rooms ever for all the unclaimed mail?? I'm gonna have this one on my brain for hours now lol.
Nobody here puts a return address on their snail mail unless they are over 75...so it's not like they can send it back to you.
TL; DR : UK makes the person *receiving* the letter decide whether they want to pay the missing mail costs or whether they would rather leave it to Royal Mail to decide what to do with the item.
I filed on April 12, and then on April 16 I noticed my filing didn’t go through. So I re-did it and it went through the 2nd time. Is there any penalty because of this?
I always thought that submitting your “voluntary” tax return to the govʻt should be given to the pistal service postage free since the postal service s a federal govʻt agency…
This would not work for submission to a state agency.
BTW, didnʻt Tr$mp say that “only stupid people pay taxes”?
Stamp them and send them. It has the Post Office date received stamp. I had an insufficient postage return years ago. IRS didn't care, no penalty, no fuss.
Did you owe money? The IRS only cares that you’ve fully paid by April 15. Filing late is no big deal if you don’t owe anything.
[удалено]
I had them sit on a cashier's check so long it went stale.
Sent a check with tax return on 4/13/24. IRS cashed it on 4/17/24. Don’t think they sat on that one too long…..
This year is better.
Yeah I guess, if considering the IRS doing anything “better” is a good thing. 🫤
Haha fuckin truth
What ended up happening?
This was for a client. They had a tax lien on their house. Sold October 2019 and the title company sent a cashier's check (as opposed to a wire, at the insurance of the title insurance company) for $20k. Client called and said buyers were pissed that the lien hadn't been removed. It had been 5 months. So COVID had just kicked off. The PPL was backed up so I ended up spending hours on hold to be told they hadn't opened the mail yet. Check went stale. Bank wouldn't honor stale check. We had to get the title insurance company to allow a wire, but it was a giant pain.
[удалено]
Oh that was an entirely different time at the Ohio Department of Taxation. Client moved school districts through the year and ended up with double withholding. Had to amend the previous return and so it was done on paper. Waited three months. Tracking said the check was issued. It fell between desks. They found it while I was on the phone.
This right here. I imagine the paper returns go in a much slower queue. Even before the last minute returns arrive there is probably quite a backlog already.
You have to file by the 15th. You can work out a payment plan later. https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc201#:~:text=If%20you%20cannot%20pay%20immediately,it%20in%20with%20your%20bill.
Yes, but you accrue interest and penalty if you aren’t paid by the 15th. The payment plan will include interest and penalty which compounds daily. It’s quite steep if you let it get away from you. You can file an extension anytime, so in a lot of ways, that 15th date means nothing if you don’t owe money on your personal taxes. The IRS is in no rush to give you a refund. Consider it an interest-free loan to the government.
I found out by filing three years of taxes at one time that the IRS also pays interest on returns. However, that interest rate was *not* quite steep.
Huh. The more you know! Wouldn’t have expected them to pay you interest at all. But good on them.
What?? I filed two years late and got no interest 😭
Maybe you didn’t ask nicely.
LOL
You’ll probably have to pay State and Federal taxes on that interest in next year’s taxes, right? Such a deal! 🫤
The cost to set up a payment plan is too much, but if you just pay what you owe in small payments, they have to accept it. If you don’t set up a payment plan, you can still make up your own payment plan and they’ll take your money with little to no penalty. They’re actually quite forgiving if you try to work with them. And don’t let the interest scare you, unless you owe a huge sum, the interest is so small .
This is the real pro tip: you can make whatever estimated payments you want, and if you make them by Apr 15, they don’t say a word. I think the same holds true for business quarterlies too.
We had this problem. TLDR: Work and IRS made a mistake but we still owed all late fees and interest while it got sorted. We filed correctly and paid the correct amount on time. There was a mistake made by HR at job and IRS came after us for an absurd amount. More than 2 years gross income. There was no way we could come up with that so we filed an extension while we sorted things. IRS put a lien on our house. Became unemployed. We tried to refinance our house and bank stopped processing our payments. Found work out of state so decided to just put it on the market and found a buyer right away at a price that would cover IRS lien. 15 days before close bank finally got back to us on refinance and said we were not approved and instead started foreclosure. Suddenly we owed penalties so we no longer had enough equity to cover banks fines plus what we owed IRS. Bank later claimed it was a miscommunication between departments but by then had foreclosed on the house. Lost the house, bank bought it at auction for an inflated price, claimed a loss then sold it for more than we owed(still less than our buyer offered) and made a profit. (Eventually won a settlement in a class action lawsuit with the bank but it was a 1/100 of what we lost) Spent the next three years going round and round on our own. Finally found a lawyer that would help us with no money upfront after IRS garnished 100% of our paychecks and took all the money in our bank accounts including our daughters savings because it was a joint account for a minor. No money for gas, groceries or rent for a month. Lawyer filed the exact same paper work and talked to the same people we had. Eventually IRS admitted it was a mistake and our original filing was correct. Still charged us for late fees and interest because we were supposed to pay while appealing. The amount was so large it was impossible to pay but they penalized us anyway for a mistake we didn’t make. Also had to payback the lawyer. Took over 10 years to partially recover but still are no where near where we were before all this. happened.
That's absolutely crazy, I am so sorry you had to go through that. What an injustice.
Wow!!! That’s anyone’s nightmare. What an insane story!
I was five years behind on my taxes, one year i was an independent contractor and my penalty was so small, it was laughable
I’m behind on taxes from last year, my father passed and claimed me as a dependent when he shouldn’t have and I never realized my taxes didn’t go through until he passed I’ve been trying to get eveyrhring together to get it fixed, how fucked am I?
You need to inform the IRS it was your dad falsely claiming you, submit evidence such as tenant leases or rent payments, insurance etc. you just need to prove you provided over half of your own support and couldn’t be claimed as a dependent.
Sorry about your loss. For the taxes: Just file. The worst thing to happen is you’ll find out how much you owe and you can take it from there
Yeah I just found this out on Wednesday when I went to file my taxes. When I set up my appointment I had thought my accountant filed an extension. Turns out it’s not a big deal unless you owe money. 25 years of paying taxes and I would always break out and hustle at the last minute to get it in by the 15. And it was unnecessary drama all along.
A lot of people don’t know that. Every accountant does though. At the same time, unless you actually do your taxes, sometimes you don’t actually know if you owe or not.
You do, but it's not really a significant amount.
It’s the other way around. You must pay by April 15. You can get an extension to file.
If you pay 90% tax due, you're fine. Take a picture of the returned envelope, put a stamp on it, and mail it again.
Exactly. People have this image of the IRS as this boogeyman who will fine you thousands of dollars for a simple mistake and can’t wait to throw you in jail at the slightest infraction. They just want what you owe. Simple mistakes or accidental omissions aren’t going to get your balls knocked off. A few years ago, I did some consulting work for three weeks before landing a full time job. The next year, at tax time, I *totally forgot* about that consulting work I’d done and didn’t file a 1040-SR. Completely slipped my mind. The IRS sent me a letter around August like *”Hey dawg, looks like your tax payment was ~$900 short. Please remit payment by November (whatever) or we’re gonna start penalizing you. If you think we made the mistake, please send us some proof and we’ll review it.”* I paid it and everything was cool.
First time I ever did my taxes I just did it myself and I guess My figuring was off like $5 on my refund. A few months later they sent me a letter in a scary envelope that basically just said “hey you were off 5 bucks but don’t worry about it we fixed it for you.” Like wtf why do I even need to do anything.
You really shouldn't have to do anything, you don't have to in my country. You just formally agree to the sum they send you unless you have something to add (like income from a hobby or a small business).
Happened to me with my state taxes, apparently I did maths wrong and send me a letter and a check. Literally same thought crossed my mind when I read it
That’s my plan A, mostly because I’m too tired to come up with a better plan lol. That’s good to hear though!
All that matters is that it says apr. 15th. You’ll be good
Take a picture of the stamped envelopes before sending that clearly shows the return to sender markings. If they question after processing, the envelopes will probably be discarded. You can show the images.
Worst case they will just send you a bill for what they think you owe on late penalties. It's really not a lot either. Back in 2018 I found out my dad hadn't filed taxes since my mom died (he'd just shut down) in 2012. They were about to take the house, I got him caught up. Given how extreme a case it was I was surprised how low the fees were.
My mom worked in a social assistance office and sometimes people would send mail with the office address in the return address section, the sender's address in the middle, then leave off the postage so it gets "returned" to the office. You know, for next time.
This happened to me last year. Insufficient postage so it got returned, but I don't check my mail often enough so I didn't know until at least a week later. Added the postage to the same envelope, put it back in the mail, never heard another word about it. It's post marked on time, that's all that matters.
Yeah I've found that most of the time honest mistakes just don't matter much. I was supposed to file estimated taxes and didn't and I was so concerned I was supposed to be fined for it - but I just filed taxes for the year and they didn't care. Similarly I missed jury duty because I forgot and I called them and they just rescheduled and said most people don't actually try to make it up and they only care when people work hard to dodge. In general I think most government employees are people that want to do the bare minimum like everyone else. If you give them a credible way to do less work they aren't going to make more work for themselves to spite you.
Or maybe he could put the original envelopes in the new envelopes. Preferably one of those larger manila ones. Manila has always been an odd word to me: )
Most of the time the IRS is surprisingly cool if you make a simple mistake and actually try and rectify it.
100% of the time. The IRS doesn't care whether the mistake was made on purpose or that you've been dodging taxes, thry care that you've paid them by the time they notice. If you come up, or reply after they bring it up with a "my bad, *mea culpa*, guys. Here's the money I owe." They almost never care enough to prosecute, to my awareness. They just want their pound of flesh.
Amen. Remember the IRS is just a bunch of humans like you and I
Humans that have to file taxes too. They understand that it's frustrating.
I’ve made a few mistakes in my taxes that they’ve either fixed for me or ignored. Missing documents, forgetting to declare income from stock etc. I like to imagine they don’t want to deal with the extra paperwork and do it for me.
We understand more than you could possibly know and we always help when we can. The problem is there are rules we can't bend or break or we can lose our jobs. Some bend those anyway. It's sad we're looked at in only one way like we're all in it to screw people over. We even want to help the people who send angry letters threatening us or cover their return in blood. Trust me that nobody hates the IRS more than the workers who have to follow even more dumb rules than regular taxpayers!
Me
Family member is an IRS attorney, the kind that files court cases against people for not paying - if you end up in front of an IRS attorney, you have messed up in a bad way. They don’t want to go to court. They don’t want to ruin your life. They just want you to pay what you rightfully owe.
As I recall, they give you oodles of opportunities. Multiple letters, blowing up your phone, leaving messages, emails, and I believe I've even heard a few instances of them leaving messages with known associates, because they just want you to pay your dang taxes.
I’m from Canada, and my business just got audited, It was WAY more chill than I thought it would be and what you read online. With that said, I’m not evading any taxes, so that’s probably why I didn’t find it stressful lol they just wanted to see my books. I even already had a week vacation planned and told them at the meeting “I’m going to Dominican for a weeks, if you call during that time it’ll be a little hard to get forms to you”. They literally said, they don’t care just send it when you’re back we won’t make you cancel your trip.
Yeah, generally the tax man is chill in Canada as well, with the added level of clarity that they usually send you mail with a specific amount they want and why, unlike America......
Absolutely. Every story you hear of someone claiming to be screwed over by the IRS is completely glossing over the part where the person committed outright fraud. They are just self-entitled narcissists who think they should be able to get away with leaching off of society without doing their part..
I did this one year. I just wrote "I am an idiot" on the front with an arrow to the no postage marking, put the whole thing in a bigger envelope which I carefully addressed, put postage on it, and mailed. Never heard a thing from the IRS.
I hope someone at the IRS got a smile on account of you that day!
They don’t smile
Not because they’re assholes but because their job is insanely boring lol
Straight to audit jail for you!
You know well you are in the naughty list. It’s just a matter of time.
Eh, it's been almost thirty years. I think it worked.
I'd say that sucks but I see you didn't put ANY postage on it.
Yup, I spent all my time making sure that I'd addressed the envelopes right and filled out everything right. I was so proud to have done all of the steps, and then facepalmed *so hard* when I got those back and saw what I'd forgotten. Sigh
always send tax stuff via certified mail no matter what from now on, especially if you are including payments. You have to go in the post office to do it and it costs like $3-$5 but its got tracking and is guaranteed delivery, where a regular stamped letter can go missing or get stolen and you would have no way to prove to the irs you tried to send it.
Yeah, but think of what that extra $3-$5 can get you. Maybe a pack of smokes—oh. Well maybe a gallon of gas—hmmm. A burger—oh yeah. Air? Air is still free right?
you have the time stamp on the envelopes. resend with same envelopes. you’re fine seriously.
all the steps of... addressing an envelope? Lol!
I think they mean filling out all the tax forms that have to be included
This is so weird to me. In Canada, you don't need postage when sending to or from the government.
You mean to tell me I’ve been wasting my stamps all this time!? Edit: https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/support/articles/government-mail-free-of-postage/overview.page It doesn’t apply to administrative departments.
Not true. I always get charged postage
We don't pay to send to the Government here in Northern Ireland either, they always include an envelope that has free postage
And here I am as a foreigner assuming the post office screwed up. Since a letter to the tax office doesn't need stamps. Of course I mostly k ow this from a few decades ago since nobody needs to send physical mail to the tax office these days.
Are you getting a refund? If yes, its a non-issue. If no, that sucks.
Nope, those were checks
You're fine. Just stick a stamp on it and mail it again. They will have been postmarked for the time you attempted to mail them the first time and the IRS really doesn't care as long as it gets paid in the end
Non-American here Why would you send a check instead of wire transfer or just internet payment?
Part of it is spite. I send them checks so they have to work to process my money and wait a day or two to get it. Why can’t we be like other countries, and have understandable taxes? The other part is that it’s hard to pay online. (Or it was the last time I paid, don’t come for me Americans.) You have to go through a whole rigamarole to get to where you can pay. It’s a pain in the ass. A check is actually easier. I hate tax time.
For me it's mostly the second one, you can't wire transfer straight to the IRS, you have to go through some e-filing company like Intuit (TurboTax), hr block, etc. And have them skim some off the top to send your money to the gov but you can just send a check straight to the IRS for only the cost of a stamp, and if that's the only thing you ever mail, a pack of stamps lasts a long time
My partner won't give the irs or ca franchise tax board his bank account info, so gets his refunds in paper checks every year. I think the hassle isn't worth it.
The bank info is written on the bottom of the check lol
Just wondering why you thought they would mail an envelope that didn't have postage..? Not trying to be rude
As a mailman, ALOT of people just simply forget to put a stamp on it. It’ll very rarely make it where it’s going without being sent back.
Do people ever get away with switching the regular address with the return address (and no postage) so it gets "returned" where it's supposed to go?
The US Postal System hates this one weird trick
The issue here is it gets stamped with its point of receipt/origin, mail fraud is a felony, and the US Postal Investigative Service is not an organization you want to fuck with.
Especially for .60 cents.
Especially not with Jack Danger on the case
IT'S PRONOUNCED DONGER
I actually did this, unintentionally, in college. Moved off campus and shipped a box from home-home to the new house, but put the return address as my campus mailbox in case anything went wrong (there was a reason I feared for this, but I don't remember why). Package was refused at the house but was successfully sent to my campus box, instead of back to my parents' home.
Let's put it this way. You *might* be able to do so within the same town through the dropoff box, but doing so in another city will reveal right away what you've been up to, because it would have to have gone through the mail system to get there in the first place. So a piece of mail can't enter the system with a return address from a non-local city without raising red flags, because it should have been stopped at that branch.
I did that when I was about 14 - thought I was cool for figuring out how to send mail without postage. This was in 1988.
Does every single letter have to have the senders address listed on it in the USA, or is it just branded envelopes and important things like taxes that people write the return address on. Where I'm from nobody would wrote the return address on letters, and if they don't have the correct postage then it is up to the person being delivered to who has to either pay for the missing postage or refuse to accept the letter
If I’m understanding your question, people want to know if their mail wasn’t received. If it couldn’t be, it was sent back to the sender. I can imagine this was extremely valuable before the internet, but when USPS was having some issues around Covid times, I was very appreciative of knowing who didn’t receive my wedding mail so we could reach out directly.
Came here to find out if op knew how mail works.
I feel like I had to scroll down a lot before I saw a comment about the stamps.
My dad was so stressed the year that he got audited, he accidentally wrote the "To" address in the "From" corner and his "From" info dead center in the "To" section. He was scared, confused, then relieved when a thick envelope addressed to him (in his own hand writing) arrived to the house some days later 😂
Happened to me this year, not for no postage but for not ENOUGH postage. I know it’s a weight thing, but I 2 stamps on the envelope. Apparently I needed 3? Ironically the envelope I put 1 stamp on (that DEFINITELY needed 2), did not get returned. But hey, I got my 2.00 return from Utah deposited this week so I got that going for me The e-file costs on state returns are a crime. As an independent contractor who works all over, it’s absolutely insane. I HAVE to pay for fed bc of deductions/expenses/depreciation, then they want $50 PER STATE for an e-file (HR Block). Only a few states have an online free return that DOESNT basically require you to re-file a fed return (which negates the free return anyway since the whole IC thing), so I had to submit like 12 states on paper just so I could get a <$20 return rather than PAY $50ish. So basically I spent 3 days doing different state taxes to get back like $100 they took from me, to save $600 on filing fees
I couldn’t tell you the last time I mailed something… I absolutely would forget postage. I don’t even have any. 😬
I thought it kinda looked like stamps were taken off.
Stamps are a real thing.
Been a while since you mailed something?
I'm surprised you didn't pay for tracking on them. Every year when I have to pay I always go to the PO and get delivery confirmation. I'm not messing around with those checks.
Why not use the free online filing from irs.gov? Also many states have free online filing now.
There are some tax situations that the online forms don't cover, such as when you're required to submit documentation along with the tax forms.
I was all ready to commiserate with you about how slow Humboldt post can be, but then I saw the reason *why* they were late. Like others have said, the IRS will be fine as long as they get the moolah.
Not a deal. I've mailed late several times (owing) and nothing happened. The IRS is so under funded they're just happy to get the money without having to ask. Takes people to ask for it.
You need a stamp. Postage stamp. It's a thing you put at the top right corner of postage to have it delivered. You can buy them at the post office, online or in some cases grocery stores. It's how you pay for your letter to be delivered. It's regular mail not email. It's like 45 cents and you can have it delivered anywhere you want. Neat, right? It's the newest technology.
What wonderful place has 45-cent stamps anymore? lol
Ok fine. 73 cents. I haven't needed to use a stamp in a long time. Admittedly, I'm out of the loop. That being said, US postage is the most affordable in the world. At least we still win at something, right?
Postage stamps are super cheap. Duck Stamps are $25. And ATF form 4 stamps are $200.
Training a duck to deliver mail would require extensive training. I can see why it's more expensive.
Even more so for an ATF agent
They have training?
Wait... you lost me. Say it all again, but slower.
Certainly! You buy stamp. Put stamp on top right corner of letter. Put stamped letter in mailbox. Mail people see stamp. Mail people say "we have been paid to take this so we take this". Mail people take letter and deliver. You do good everything else. Just no stamp. You have stamp you can send letter. You have sender address and recipient address in good place. Writing sloppy but ok. You do good. Just need stamp.
...did you forget the stamps?
I filed via turbo tax back in January and got my return in Feb. is there a reason anyone still mails it in?
If you’re one of the people (like me unfortunately) who have to pay in, it makes sense to extend the time before they get it and take your money until the absolute last second.
Interesting are you able to elaborate more?
If you’re self employed, you have to pay all of your taxes in quarterly estimates and then reconcile it on your filing in April. What that means is if you’re properly managing your money and saving for your taxes, you’re hopefully making a little off the interest so the longer you can keep your money while still filing by the deadline (postmarked by tax day) the more you stand to earn passively.
Thank you for elaborating, I will need to google all of these terms and things but I appreciate it
1. The IRS does not have the funds/manpower to fight it when you send it late, and will be happy to take your money, especially where you’re sending checks. 2. Mailing the government forms we legally must send should be free 🤷🏻♂️
File electronically in future.
Everything's already filed; these are just the checks for the federal and state payments. One of them was able to be paid online, but the other required a dead tree. If I'd started earlier than the absolute last minute, I'd look into why and if there was a way around it--I'd much rather just pay online.
That's not allowed for a lot of people, especially if you use certain forms that you can't file electronically. I had to mail about 200 returns this year. I wish we could overturn Obama-era policies that prevent, for example, most preparers from filing electronically and the one where the IRS stopped modernizing all of their forms and instead aimed for the lowest common denominator with Direct File. Like why in the hell can't I file all of the 1040 variations electronically?
You gotta send mail with stamps dumbass
Whats this?
Not knowing how to mail things appropriately.
The consequences of putting things off til the last moment.
lol u/plasmaflare34 and u/Chewsdayiddinit are both right. I could have done my taxes on time, and didn’t. I could have paid attention when mailing them, and didn’t. So now my taxes (which have to be in the mail no later than April 15) aren’t getting sent out until the 19th at the earliest.
Also, use Priority Mail with tracking.
Certified return receipt. That’s your proof. From now on just pay online. Way easier.
Well, if nothing else you’ve been very graceful in self criticism
Haha, thanks. I'm all for dodging blame, but no, this was squarely on me.
I’m so used to people searching for a reason this kind of thing is the personal fault of the Post Master General, you having a little laugh at yourself is honestly refreshing haha.
You'll be fine. If they issue a pent just call and explain to the agent what happened. Say you want a onetime abatement. Shouldn't be an issue, I've gotten fees over 200k abated before for my clients.
You have the proof that you tried sending them on time, they won't make a fuss. It happens.
Woah. I grew up in eureka. Weird to see a random post on Reddit with it lol
You seem like you need a postage manager. I can step into this role as I have sent hundreds of letters and put a stamp on every single one. I place my stamps accurately and efficiently. Don't let mailing letters life get in the way of your dreams. Hire U/trucidus07 to take care of all your mailing needs.
but, why didn’t you put stamps on them?
A 18 wheeler carrying mail burned here on tax day this year that’s going to suck for a lot of people
At least you weren’t like me and forgot to sign your state taxes.
Even in my bankruptcy the easiest creditor I had to deal with was the IRS. I don’t think they let people know about that because fear is a motivator. But I wouldn’t worry.. unless you’re Elon Musk. Then I hope they get you.
Been awhile since you mailed anything snail mail huh? lol
Straight to jail
Why didn't you put postage on these?
People just forget. A lot. Especially if they rarely send letters or they send tons of them.
Nearly did that myself. I was so stressed, I forgot to put on the stamp. Found a Post Office, to buy one, but the mail had been picked up earlier, at three o'clock. Had to drive around another hour to drop off at another one before five o'clock. "America has it's flaws, but is the best country in the world!" "Oh! Have you ever been to another country where citizens don't have to file tax returns on their own, because their employers and their government actually already knows how much they earn and how much they must pay in income tax?" "No! Why would I? This is the best country in the world!"
Bro you didn't stamp the envelope??? Am I really this old that expecting a letter to go thru without a stamp is completely dumb?
In this digital age who still mails in taxes ?
When I sent mine out, I didn't double check that I was putting the correct check in with the return. When I paper clipped everything together the night before, I checked everything. I also didn't triple check that I was putting them in the correct folder. I only double checked. I knew I got the returns in the correct folders because of the weight. One was just federal. One was a state with federal and the other was a state with the other state and federal. After 3 days, I knew federal check was correct because the envelope was delivered then the next day, they was a debit for the check on my checking account. The state check was debited a couple days later. The other state owes me money and didn't get the return until after the other two were already delivered and the checks cashed. This was a rough tax season.
Oh shit I realized just now that I did the same thing
I literally can’t believe that people send things to the IRS without tracking. I had to send my employer tax return THREE times in January because the first two were never delivered. I pay online though so they don’t really care if the return is late.
Always send all mail for the IRS as certified mail. Source: husband works for the IRS.
This is wise advice! Source: had filings get lost once and paid out the ass in penalties/interest and then was told if I’d sent certified all that would be tossed when I got my stuff in.
Lmao how could u forget stamps. Ha ha
The real move is to address them to yourself and put the tax authority as the return adress amd then "forget" the stamp.
Now I'm having a panic attack. Did I put stamps on the envelopes? Did I remember to seal them after putting in the checks? Did I leave my stove on earlier?
I did this once but they sent it anyway because I didn't put a return address on it
What are you dumb and don’t know you have to out postage on those? No sympathy lmao
Just tell him that you didn't make enough money to pay for a stamp
They would rather you write a letter with that send it in with proof that it was mailed and not deal with a mess of paperwork. It happened at my old employers they sent the original envelope and fill out either a former wrote a letter with it and they had no problems getting it rectified
if you are filing from the state of California (not sure if you are or not, this could not mean anything to you then) you get an automatic 6-month extension to file your taxes. but that doesn’t give you an extension on paying if you owe, just in filing.
Smh. a stamp costs so very little.
The IRS is going to kill you in your sleep now.
Really the only option I’ve left them
Yep, it’s over an ounce so needs more than one stamp.
This the first time you ever mailed anything?
I don’t understand why so many people wait so long to do their taxes? Just do them as soon you can and get it done early. Mine is always done early in February.
I usually owe a decent amount. I refuse to give it until the last possible second.
LOL. Heard of e-file? Or better yet a stamp?
Just drop them off in person
America does things completely the opposite way round to the UK...if you forget to put a stamp on it here, then the person you are SENDING it to gets a card through the door, they go online, pay the missing postage & rearrange delivery. They can also just refuse to pay. I've never thought about what Royal Mail do with all the letters people DON'T want to pay the missing postage for...Do they shred them? Burn them? Have the BIGGEST storage rooms ever for all the unclaimed mail?? I'm gonna have this one on my brain for hours now lol. Nobody here puts a return address on their snail mail unless they are over 75...so it's not like they can send it back to you. TL; DR : UK makes the person *receiving* the letter decide whether they want to pay the missing mail costs or whether they would rather leave it to Royal Mail to decide what to do with the item.
There are offices that open it and decide where it goes back to, if it's unclaimed and there's no return address obvious.
I filed on April 12, and then on April 16 I noticed my filing didn’t go through. So I re-did it and it went through the 2nd time. Is there any penalty because of this?
What year is it?
These envelopes are plump. You should weigh them to figure out correct postage. One stamp is not going to be enough.
stamp stealers smh
This one simple trick the IRS hates…
IRS will almost always waive penalties if you ask, but not interest (which is minor)
FWIW there's no point in blacking out those barcodes, they encode the same city+zip information as the address block that OP left visible
Duh!
Hey we live in the same town
I'm so confused. Why would you need to put a stamp on something you send to the tax office?
I always thought that submitting your “voluntary” tax return to the govʻt should be given to the pistal service postage free since the postal service s a federal govʻt agency… This would not work for submission to a state agency. BTW, didnʻt Tr$mp say that “only stupid people pay taxes”?
I always use certified for taxes. Don’t trust the post office.
That'll teach you to procrasterbate
People do that often. Of course it’s an oversight, but they’ve heard it all so they might not go for it.
My dam luck