Oh that silly IRS, sending us stuff.
People tend to get a little worried when they get something from the IRS and I don’t blame them. And now that lots of people get notifications from the post office about the mail on its way I am getting questions before the envelopes even get opened.
Here is a fun one that sent me into a panic attack (“Honey, there’s a thick envelope from the IRS here”).
These are just estimated payment vouchers, just like the ones we make up for our clients who need them. But they come with a confusing form and instructions. And slightly nicer envelopes I guess. I can’t figure out why the IRS is randomly sending out these packets to people who already are making estimated payments, but ok.
We do not need to use these, but if you want to give me the envelopes we can use them! Otherwise feel free to recycle. You don’t even need to shred, the personal information (name, address and last four of your SSN) are not considered private.
Next we have the letter that is coming out to report the second stimulus payment. This letter is the second round of letters, for payments made in January, but it is dated March 12. If your taxes are already done and the amount on the letter is the same amount we reported on your return, all is well. If you haven’t dropped off your stuff yet you can include this.
I did highlight a little bit of this.
I will be honest, I read this and screamed out loud. While it is absolutely true that neither stimulus payment should be claimed as income, both payments must reported on your tax return so that they can be reconciled. But I’ve met people, I’ve talked to people, I know people and I guarantee that most people, if they read this, will only read “shouldn’t report it…on your 2020 federal income tax return” and will argue with me.
Ok, that’s it for the mailbag. Tom, I know this formatting is horrible. You totally have permission to hack in and fix it.