Vanity - A useless $141K check from the US Treasury - frustrating

self | 08/20/2014 | self

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

As an awkward workaround had you not been able to resurrect that bank account, she could have endorsed it back to the IRS as a “quarterly payment.” (If possible at an IRS field office.) Call, make certain the funds were applied to the primary SSN. The primary is whichever of you is listed first on your 1040.

Then, make absolutely certain you file your taxes as early as possible next year. Request direct deposit for your refund. Call and make certain this happens.

What you did is better, since you would not receive any interest.

[Rodamala]

sounds like a job for lowbridge!

[Cementjungle]

Clever idea indeed.... that would probably work too, who knows.

[rabidralph]

*Ping* in case you can offer some advice.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

Yup, I get several of those each week. Are the actually coming from you, MR Kart...?

And what happens if I respont to Suleman Bello...?

This is urgent for me...I have several of these waiting for a response from me...Millions of dollars at stake!

[Tax-chick]

Nope. Back in the days when I worked in an estates and trusts law practice, I was just a typist!

[rabidralph]

Thanks :-)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

My assumption is that they owed no tax. IF they owed no tax it would have been refunded.

Had they owed, the IRS would have retained any amounts necessary to pay any tax due. Of course, that is also not a bad thing and means that you are not subject to interest and penalty, to liens and seizures, lawyers bills for lawsuits, public humiliation when your name is in the local newspaper as a tax scofflaw, comparisons to Cheat’n Charlie Rangle, etc.

It is also imperative that once you do this you ALWAYS file within 3 years of the due date for that tax year, and confirm that your return was received. The Refund Expiration Date is three years after the due date and they will NOT refund any prepaid credits to you if you file your return after that date!

[Cementjungle]

My assumption is that they owed no tax. IF they owed no tax it would have been refunded.

Had they owed, the IRS would have retained any amounts necessary to pay any tax due. Of course, that is also not a bad thing and means that you are not subject to interest and penalty, to liens and seizures, lawyers bills for lawsuits, public humiliation when your name is in the local newspaper as a tax scofflaw, comparisons to Cheat’n Charlie Rangle, etc.

It is also imperative that once you do this you ALWAYS file within 3 years of the due date for that tax year, and confirm that your return was received. The Refund Expiration Date is three years after the due date and they will NOT refund any prepaid credits to you if you file your return after that date!

We filed for an extension after about 3 months after her death, and sent with that a check for $245K.

A year later we filed the final form 706 which called for a refund of $68K, which they promptly sent us.

Several months later we were informed that the estate filing had been chosen for an audit. That process resulted in a year-long ordeal of getting things re-appraised, getting old bank statements and so on.

The audit resulted in a reduction of the overall estate value. They did nail it for "gift taxes from the 1970's" but otherwise was quite favorable.

The final refund check did actually include about $4K in interest that the IRS gave back to us... which surprised me.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

They do pay interest if they held your refund more than 45 days. The interest starts on the return due date.

I’m glad you got your refund. That doesn’t always happen!