Holy Shit IRS Certified Mail

[Anonymous]

Just looked at my USPS Informed delivery e-mail that I receive every day due to our mail service being unreliable.

Two pieces of certified mail. Both have both our names at the top and then one has my husbands name on one and one has mine. WTF? Are we being audited? We have the simplest taxes ever with the exception of 2016 when we moved, deducted moving expenses, and bought and sold a property. Everything since then has been super mundane. Given that I have to now attempt to work until 7 and sit through multiple meetings, how scared should I be? I want to throw up.

[Anonymous]

If you didn’t knowingly cheat, I wouldn’t worry. Sometimes their records don’t match your reporting. You just need to send in justifications. I got one before, sent in my backup info and the case was closed.

[Anonymous]

Audit is a broad term. They may be asking for a single clarification or piece of documentation that was missing or about a specific line item. It usually doesn't mean hauling every document you've ever had about finances to the IRS in person.

[Anonymous]

The one time this happened to me it wasn't a big deal. So much so that I can't even remember what the issue was and my taxes are also pretty simple and straightforward.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes you get money back, too. Once I got back an 11 dollar extra refund check.

[Anonymous]

I had a letter from NYS taxation once because some investment income was mischaracterized a few years earlier and they said I owed another $300. Not the most pleasant news, but not a huge deal either. It could very well be something like that.

[Anonymous]

One time my direct deposit was wrong and we owed them money in a paper check.

[Anonymous]

It's possible they're just correcting an error, maybe even in your favor! If you are being audited, really NBD. I got audited once because I did not include cancelled debt as income due to insolvency (yay crazy law school student loans!). I just wrote a long detailed letter including loan statements and bank account balance, and they wrote back a very nice letter saying "thanks, you're fine."

[Anonymous]

Don't worry, as PPs said, it could just be a record-keeping error that needs clarification. I got audited once in my early 20s and told I owed $5k for a financial aid grant that was sent directly to my undergrad institution 5 years prior. I sent all the FinAid documentation and wrote a letter of explanation, and they cancelled the supposed debt.

It was scary at the time because I was a broke entry-level fed, and I was like wtf?

Just send whatever info they're asking for and you should be fine.

[Anonymous]

We got a letter once that said we owed $2000. I was p*ssed, so I sent it to my friend, a CPA. He said, "you probably owe more than that actually, so just pay the amount they're asking"...and that was that.

[Anonymous]

We got audited once. They wanted documentation of our deductions (receipts and check stubs or credit card statements). It was a huge pain but it was fine.

We also were once notified of attempted identity theft. Someone tried to file for us and get our refund. We now file with a pin they send us every year.

I don't remember either of those coming certified mail, but I could be wrong.

[Anonymous]

I got a letter A few years ago saying that I owe 5k. I was worried but I called turbo tax’s audit protection line. Someone over there had fat fingered when entering how many taxes I already paid and even though it was a pita to sort out, it turned out fine.

[Anonymous]

OP Here. Thanks. There should be literally nothing wrong with anything, but I guess a mistake is always a possibility.

Ugh. The stress, the stress! Every single day it's one more G-Damned thing. And just yesterday, I heard on NPR that you are less likely to be audited due to vacancies at the IRS.

Thanks. I'll try to hang in there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP Here. Thanks. There should be literally nothing wrong with anything, but I guess a mistake is always a possibility.

Ugh. The stress, the stress! Every single day it's one more G-Damned thing. And just yesterday, I heard on NPR that you are less likely to be audited due to vacancies at the IRS.

Thanks. I'll try to hang in there.

Cut down on caffeine.

[Anonymous]

I got one once. I had sold my house (which I had actually taken a small loss on) and someone at closing hadn’t filed the papers correctly having to do with paying off the old mortgage and so the IRS thought that I had made a $400k unreported capital gain instead of a $40k loss (which due to the tax laws I couldn’t take). I know I called the IRS and I don’t even remember if I had to send anything in or it was cleared up over the phone.

Breathe normally, OP.