Oyyyy I'm in trouble of the tax kind....

[Buzz]

Just opened a letter I got yesterday from Revenue Canada and to make a long story short I owe them $1600 in back taxes. Guess I just got an early Christmas present. I honestly can't remember the last time I got a refund and this is realllly gonna hurt bad. Sorry rant over.

[milanessa]

(((Buzz))) Although your idea of a Christmas present seems a bit...odd.

[MacMadame]

The IRS in the US owes me over $3000 dollars. But instead they put a lien on my house for $159. Morons.

[aliceanne]

I had the IRS give me a refund I wasn't expecting. They said I did my taxes incorrectly. Two years later I got a bill for the same amount plus interest and penalties. I didn't have a problem returning the money as I thought I had done my taxes correctly in the first place, but I did protest having to pay penalties. They said they would review my case and let me know. Needless to say another 2 years have gone by and nada.

I suspect someone knows they made a mistake and is covering their tracks by having me pay penalties. It isn't worth my time and money to get a lawyer, but it is scary to know they can send you a bill out of the blue and you have no recourse but to pay it.

[liv]

I"m not happy either. I have been told I have to pay HST for the last few years, but because of where i work, it doesn't apply. I"ve submitted the information, but until I find out from them if i'm exempt, I"m on pins and needles.... that could be thousands of dollars in back taxes! What a headache!

[maatTheViking]

I feel sorry for every getting tax bills . It sucks.

n we moved to the US KPMG did our taxes the first year as part of our relocation package. Not only were we not terribly impressed with them, but they neglected to tell us it was considered a taxable benefit of over $5000 for the next year. Combined with the fact that how you calculate your projected taxes with a 2-income household not straightforward here (compared to Denmark, where you tell the government everything and they tell you the projected tax rate - I have never been more then $100 off), we ended up owing $7000 in back taxes. Ouch.

Every year since I have overpaid, that year we had some extra money, but we are not going to have every year!

[Skate Talker]

I had the IRS give me a refund I wasn't expecting. They said I did my taxes incorrectly. Two years later I got a bill for the same amount plus interest and penalties. I didn't have a problem returning the money as I thought I had done my taxes correctly in the first place, but I did protest having to pay penalties. They said they would review my case and let me know. Needless to say another 2 years have gone by and nada.

I suspect someone knows they made a mistake and is covering their tracks by having me pay penalties. It isn't worth my time and money to get a lawyer, but it is scary to know they can send you a bill out of the blue and you have no recourse but to pay it.

Typical government. When I was laid off I was required to apply within 15 days for employment insurance benefits or risk being deemed ineligible, even though I knew I was soon getting a severance package that would delay the benefit for a good few months. They insist you give them bank information for direct deposit before they accept the application. Then they deposited the first few benefit cheques, minus a calculated tax withholding. Then when I received my severance, they demanded the money back immediately, but get this - not just the amount they had deposited but also the tax amount they had withheld. (In other words the gross amount, not the net.) When I queried it they said it just works that way and there is nothing they can do about it. On my next tax return, (filed 13 months later, once I had finally received all the required receipts), I would get the withheld money back if it was not needed to pay my tax bill for other income. So it actually cost me money for more than a year - an extra free loan to the government on the back of someone who is unemployed so obviously doesn't need the money - DUH!

On my next short-term job I was complaining to a co-worker and she had run into the same thing but figured out how to get around it. She would give them incomplete or incorrect banking information so that they could not prove their tax-deducted cheque had ever been cashed, therefore they were free to cancel it but she definitely didn't owe them anything. Stupid system.

[BigB08822]

I got one from the IRS because I owe about $1200 from a win I had at the casino a few years ago. I need to amend that tax return because I can claim that I lost it all back over the course of the year (which I did ) I wish I could do it online but so far have had no luck, I think I will have to pay someone to do it for me.

[taf2002]

Part of my inheritance from my mother was money from the sale of an IRA. I was taxed on that portion, which was appropriate. However, the other 5 siblings were not taxed even though the K1/K2? form showed all 6 beneficiaries.

[milanessa]

I got one from the IRS because I owe about $1200 from a win I had at the casino a few years ago. I need to amend that tax return because I can claim that I lost it all back over the course of the year (which I did ) I wish I could do it online but so far have had no luck, I think I will have to pay someone to do it for me.

Don't wait too long. I think you only have 3 years to file an amended return. Good luck. I thought casinos automatically deducted 20% on big wins?

[*Jen*]

I got a huge slap on the wrists last week from the Belgian tax department, because I didn't file 2 years ago. To cut a long story short, they made it impossible for me to file since I no longer lived there, and since they owed me money I thought nothing more of it. 2 years latr, they have a go at me for not filing and I realise they have my address TOTALLY wrong. It was a miracle I even got this letter.

I asked for an extension to file because they'd made the mistake, and they insist it was the address I left for them. Funnily enough, I think I'm able to write my own address correctly and as it was typed, there's no way they could have misread the handwriting

I'm filing now, late. They owe me money, so it's their loss If they'd let me file in the first place, it wouldn't have been an issue

[aftershocks]

Part of my inheritance from my mother was money from the sale of an IRA. I was taxed on that portion, which was appropriate. However, the other 5 siblings were not taxed even though the K1/K2? form showed all 6 beneficiaries.

Seems that if the other beneficiaries received money from the IRA sale, they should also have been taxed. If they didn't receive money, why should they have been taxed?

[cygnus]

I've had a couple of biggish (not huge) wins in Vegas this year. Since I'm non-resident, they took 30% off the wins at source. Apparently I can file to get at least some of it refunded, but it means filing a US tax return or something like that. I suppose it's worth it, as it's about $3500, but not sure how to go about it.

[BigB08822]

Don't wait too long. I think you only have 3 years to file an amended return. Good luck. I thought casinos automatically deducted 20% on big wins?

Well I hope it hasn't been too long. I just got the information from them. It wouldn't seem very fair for them to wait until the time has passed to come after the money.

[milanessa]

Well I hope it hasn't been too long. I just got the information from them. It wouldn't seem very fair for them to wait until the time has passed to come after the money.

Here's some more info. All depends if they invoked the 6 year statute of limitations or the 3 year. I'd get on it, though. I know you're busy with the holidays and a wedding, all depends on whether you want to lose that money or not.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/08/IRS...ance-wood.html

[Lara]

I had the IRS give me a refund I wasn't expecting. They said I did my taxes incorrectly. Two years later I got a bill for the same amount plus interest and penalties. I didn't have a problem returning the money as I thought I had done my taxes correctly in the first place, but I did protest having to pay penalties. They said they would review my case and let me know. Needless to say another 2 years have gone by and nada.

I suspect someone knows they made a mistake and is covering their tracks by having me pay penalties. It isn't worth my time and money to get a lawyer, but it is scary to know they can send you a bill out of the blue and you have no recourse but to pay it.

Wow. My Dad got an unexpected refund over a year ago and I thought he was silly for still refusing to touch it. No more.

[CanuckSk8r]

Ensure the letter from CRA is correct. Sometimes they reassess things based on false information or information interpreted wrong and some phone calls and letters make things right. If you find you do owe, call them and arrange a payment plan ASAP and they are much kinder to you. They are real jack holes if they think you are avoiding them.

For the Vegas winnings, try this link for the information you need, I can't get it to come up right now, but there is lots of info on taxtips.ca and google in general.

[mrr50]

Part of my inheritance from my mother was money from the sale of an IRA. I was taxed on that portion, which was appropriate. However, the other 5 siblings were not taxed even though the K1/K2? form showed all 6 beneficiaries.

Take it to your tax person, there is a spot on the tax form that addresses amounts assigned to you that are actually for others but you do need the SS#s. Concerning the IRA sale, when my mother's estate lawyer did this(back in the 90s so it could have changed big time), since her IRA was sold while the estate was unwinding it was included on mom's INCOME tax that the estate filed the year she died.

[asdf334]

I got one from the IRS because I owe about $1200 from a win I had at the casino a few years ago. I need to amend that tax return because I can claim that I lost it all back over the course of the year (which I did ) I wish I could do it online but so far have had no luck, I think I will have to pay someone to do it for me.

You can't electronically file amended returns. However, you could still file a paper 1040X/amended return on your own.