I had a "complicated" tax year in 2018 when I liquidated taxable long-term investments to pay off my house. It was a bit of a mess but my CPA and investment advisor got it sorted out and we paid the taxes. In 2021, the "irregularity" finally landed on some auditor's desk and they sent me a bill to "correct" their view of how events transpired. It came to only $1400 so I elected to just go along with it and be done. We sent the check in, the IRS cashed the check - and I was promptly issued a new, more threatening letter saying I still owed the $1400. We spent hours on the phone with the IRS (it literally takes hours to reach a person) and "cleared the matter up" when I emailed him a copy of the check which they had cashed, along with the letter we sent them. This resulted in yet another letter demanding the $1400 payment "immediately" a month later. I've given up - they're not getting any more money on TY2018 unless some "new" number emerges. My CPA says that the Covid restrictions really hit the IRS hard - lots of people stuck at home. Likely another audit will find they actually owe ME something. None of this stuff is really that complicated. It's not rocket surgery.
I had a "complicated" tax year in 2018 when I liquidated taxable long-term investments to pay off my house. It was a bit of a mess but my CPA and investment advisor got it sorted out and we paid the taxes. In 2021, the "irregularity" finally landed on some auditor's desk and they sent me a bill to "correct" their view of how events transpired. It came to only $1400 so I elected to just go along with it and be done. We sent the check in, the IRS cashed the check - and I was promptly issued a new, more threatening letter saying I still owed the $1400. We spent hours on the phone with the IRS (it literally takes hours to reach a person) and "cleared the matter up" when I emailed him a copy of the check which they had cashed, along with the letter we sent them. This resulted in yet another letter demanding the $1400 payment "immediately" a month later. I've given up - they're not getting any more money on TY2018 unless some "new" number emerges. My CPA says that the Covid restrictions really hit the IRS hard - lots of people stuck at home. Likely another audit will find they actually owe ME something. None of this stuff is really that complicated. It's not rocket surgery.
I'm not sure that any of the "I pay my taxes" types realize how Kafka-esque dealing with the IRS can be.