r/IRS

I’ve been holding for nearly 16 HOURS the last two weeks trying to get a hold of someone in the balance due department.

After many attempts, I tried TAS 3 times, waited MANY hours, got transfer pins, lines dropped, and IF I finally get someone to answer and I say hello, and then they HANG UP.

I’m trying to resolve a CP532 letter notice. I paid my monthly payment early thinking that would satisfy my payment schedule for the month, but it didn’t. The automatic payment failed. I didn’t have enough money in my account for a second payment because times are tough and I was trying to get ahead of all my payments before I had nothing in my account.

The system recognized the automated payment as a fail and discontinued my payment plan although I’ve continued to pay the monthly amount. Now I owe what I owe PLUS a couple hundred dollars in fees. I’m trying to resolve the payment plan and the fees waved because I WAS paying earlier than the due date and had every intention to continue paying.

I’ve been BALLING MY EYES OUT. I’ve been trying to be on top of this because there is a deadline to resolve this.

I’m wondering if anyone has ACTUALLY spoke to anyone to help them?? I just can’t believe I’ve spent this much time on the phone and gotten absolutely no where.

I have an important question and can’t afford a lawyer. I got this tax preparer as a recommendation from a friend did my taxes 2024 all good. I am new in the country so it was my first time doing them. I have no clue. I trusted all on him. Turns out i get a mail from the irs auditing me because it says something along the lines of “i have a company and it says I haven’t paid my employees” so I owe the irs too much money + interests. I dont have that money. Since that letter I have tried numerous times contacting this tax guy with no luck at all, responded once saying he will call but never did. Waited long i had specific time to respond to the letter. Since he did not reach out or replied to my messages and call. I replied the mail with something like “I am requesting more time to figure out paperwork, I did not prepared my taxes” etc etc. and then last night I filed the form “14157” return preparer complaint since i read that was the best outcome to hopefully at least get the pentalties taken off. I know i have to pay. today all of a sudden he calls saying don’t get a lawyer; I will pay you the money. I didn’t say anything. But I Already filed the form but I really need that money to pay for part of it at least. His way of payment was him taking a good chunk of my return. This is my lesson and now I know its a bad thing. What do I do know

So I’m getting tuition reimbursement for school through my employer only up till 10k for the whole year which wasn’t enough so I’ve had to pay money out of my own pocket to cover the rest. Would I still be able to use it for my taxes at least for the portion I’ve paid? Or How does that work?

I receive points from product manufacturers throughout rewards programs. Essentially I submit proof of sales and they give me points for it that I can eventually cash in for discounts or products themselves. Im at a loss with how these are to be taxed. A quick look shows the IRS has guidelines for these points stating they are to be taxed at FMV when received not cashed.
But they have no fixed value or FMV, the company states they will issue a 1099 misc if you exceed 2000 usd, but what if I don’t? I cant tell if I should add redemption products to my 1040 on section 8I

The company states that they use their dealer price catalog to establish the value of redeemed items towards that 2000 threshold for 1099 misc.

For context I work for an approved dealer of these products. Not for the manufacturers who issue points.

For example, I may have enough points to redeem an item that has a retail value of approximately $300, but I cannot simply exchange the points for $300 in cash, transfer them to someone else, or necessarily redeem them for $300 of my choosing. The value only becomes apparent when I use the points for a particular reward.

My concern is how these points should be treated for U.S. federal income-tax purposes. Specifically, I want to determine whether receiving the points themselves constitutes taxable income, or whether taxation occurs only when the points are redeemed. If they are taxable when received, I am unsure how I could reasonably determine their fair market value because

Good afternoon,

I have received a CP-2000 form relating to funds that the California EDD states they mailed to me via check (relating to parental leave payment), and reported to the IRS, but that I never received. The CA EDD is apparently extremely slow to respond, and have been investigating the next steps for reissuing checks (and confirming they will reissue checks) for so long that my CP-2000 notice will turn into a formal notice of deficiency if I don't pay the whole outstanding balance tomorrow.

I anticipate the CA EDD will sort this out during the 90 day notice of deficiency time period, and I'm wondering if there is any risk other than further interest (i.e., financially, legally, credit-wise) in simply allowing the IRS to send me the notice of deficiency and paying the balance once I receive the re-issued checks (I am going to get a bit screwed on the penalizes for money I did not receive, but I'll just have to eat that).

TL;DR: Does anything bad happen to you by not paying off a balance during the "CP-2000" time frame (30 days + 30 day extension) but rather by paying off a balance after a formal notice of deficiency has issued.

Thanks so much!

Hi all,

Did my own taxes for the first time in 2026 for 2025. Wound up owing another $3.3K to NJ when I filed. Paid it in full and thought all was well.

However, I recently received a letter from state of NJ division of taxation stating that "you are being charged installment interest because you did not make the following estimated required payments" the letter then goes on to list the same $xxx.xx estimated payment amount for all 4 payment dates.

What I don't understand is how they came up with those numbers for the required estimated payments they're saying I didn't make. I filled out form NJ-2210 and according to that form, I actually *overpaid* by a couple hundred on 4/15/25 and 6/16/25, underpaid by a couple hundred on 9/15/25 and underpaid by a few thousand on 1/15/26.

Potentially relevant info:

In 2024 I didn't contribute to a traditional 401k. In 2025, I maxed out my traditional 401k, so my taxable income was actually lower on paper in 2025 relative to the prior year.

My taxable income fluctuates throughout the year due to mutual funds I hold in a taxable brokerage account. I didn't sell any positions in those mutual funds in 2025 to realize a profit but according to my consolidated 1099 I was assigned >40K in capital gains all in the last 2 weeks of 2025 which I understand creates a tax liability. However, up until that point in the year I was net negative several thousand in capital gains from exiting two long held losing positions in a clean energy ETF and PYPL.

The amount I'm being charged in installment interest seems excessive given it appears to all be driven by that large capital gain from the last 2 weeks of December.

Would appreciate any insight or clarification offered.

Thank you!

on march 16, i received CP53E telling me to update my bank account information. i did that and it said my refund status would be updated in 2-5 business days. i updated my information a few days after i received the notice. since then, i've had zero updates from the irs. my refund status is stuck at refund approved and has not moved onto refund sent. everytime i check it, it tells me its because my bank account information needs to be updated (i've updated it multiple times) and when i click the link to do that, before i even change anything it tells me i'm all set and it will be updated in 3-5 business days. its obviously been well over 30 days since i received the notice so i figured they would just send me a paper check but as we can see its been 5 months and i've got nothing. i've called several different irs hotlines and every single one is automated, won't transfer me to a live agent, and then hangs up on me. i'm really stuck and have no idea what to do

My children's father claimed both the children in 2024. He has the kids for ~48 days a year.

I moved into my mother's home June 2023. For 2024 taxes I allowed my mom to claim my twins and myself.

Dad claimed them as well. We have been doing rounds with IRS and they claim all proof we send doesn't "prove they lived with you". I have always had full physical custody of the children.

We sent in the custody paperwork. This clearly outlines the 48 days he has visitation and legal/physical custody.

I sent in school enrollment proof. Starting in 2023. Has our address.

I sent in my son's disability paperwork from social security. It has our address.

I sent in their insurance tax forms. It has every month they were covered with our address.

I sent IEP paperwork (school) that proves we had a meeting and change of address.

Sent in state ID with address, sent in our birth certificates.

They are still coming back at every appeal stating none of this proves they were living with me full time.

HOW THE HELL DO I PROVE THIS? WTF is their dad submitting to prove he "has them full time"?!?!?

Ps

-he paid 200 a month for our twins total in child support. Our child has special needs I could not work until he got into school, my mom paid our bills (yes it's embarrassing but he had so many appointments it's hard to keep a job). So I allowed her to claim us.

Dad has claimed the kids in 2019, 2020, 2021,2022,2023 and filed in 2024 which caused the audit.

PLEASE, I need advice on how to prove that my children lived with me. Every time they tell us to get this or that. We do and then it's not good enough.

My previous employer of two years has failed to report my income to the IRS or SSA. I have told her that she needs to do so in order for my refund to be processed. The IRS says they cannot process my refund because they have nothing to match my W2 to. She also never gave me a legitimate copy of my W2 only a picture of the computer screen. The IRS sent her a notice saying she had to comply within 10 days and send it to me however I cannot get on the phone with the IRS to tell them that was a month ago and I still have yet to receive any. What should I do?

Seems like IRS not hiring like the previous years

I am trying to figure out if my accountant did this correctly or if there is some way to lower my tax bill.

My business income as a real estate professional was 205,340 in 2025.

I purchased two rentals and depreciated a total of 178,941.

My total income was 26399 and my adjusted gross income was 12731 which led to a taxable income of -3019.

My accountant says my tax bill is still 28,156 due to self employment tax. Is self employment tax not based off of taxable income? I spent a ton of money getting these rentals ready and was expecting to not have much of a tax bill this year.

If I am totally missing something please let me know. If there is a different way to phrase this to my cpa please also let me know.

I've never been married, but looking at my transcript "971 injured spouse claim received" show up. It is also logged at a date well before I filed. What does this mean?

I filled my taxes back in May, but received a letter this week stating that I have not "supported" the income I reported on line 10 of Form 1040. I reported the income listed on the sheet given to me by my employer (and included a copy of the document).

I can assume some of the problem might come from the fact that this is a foreign company and I work in a foreign country, paid in a foreign currency. However, I converted the payment into USD using the official exchange rate set by the central bank of the country I live in on the date the document was issued, using that as my taxable income, and explained all of this in a cover letter.

Since that was not enough, what "support" (documentation) do I need to send them then? I do not have any other sources of income, this job is my only means of income.

Thank you.

Also I concurrently filed a for Foreign Tax Credit (Form 1116), but because of the relative value of my country of residency's currency I still owed taxes, so that's sort of a bummer.