Tax Time Fun!
Well, I filed on February 1st and got my returns a long time ago. But suddenly a few days ago Ameritrade sent me an email saying that they were sending me out a corrected form. I went to my papers and found the original form they sent and it matched my records, so I figured it was some nothing.
The form arrived today and is a little different from my original. It shows $11.40 in dividends that I'm not convinced I even got. I called Ameritrade and they couldn't provide any level of detail but assured me that it is definitely right and that they are sending the corrected form to the IRS, so I had better do so as well. With 12 days left before the deadline.
Well, I don't know what it is for, but they aren't giving, so I figured I'd better take care of it so I don't get audited. But do you really have to do something about such a small amount? The federal government taxes these at 5%, so the tax incidence is $.57 (which rounds up, by the way. My state taxes slightly higher, but rounds down, so I confirmed that they don't want me to do anything.)
So I called the IRS. It takes a while to get to an actual person with your question, but the lady they sent me to seemed helpful. She told me that I do have to pay, but I just need to fill out a simply 1040X form. Sounds good. So I hung up and went to get the form. But the form only covers normal income. Nothing about dividends. Back to the phone.
The second time, they connected me with a guy with an almost impenatrable accent. He wanted me to go line by line down the new form and read it to him, but Ameritrade doesn't send proper forms. They send these silly, stylized combined forms that don't have all the normal stuff and pretty soon I didn't know what he was asking for. He told me that I had to count it as normal income because they weren't qualified dividends and argued with me for a few minutes about it, despite my assurance that 1) I know what a qualified dividend is and know that these are and 2) the silly form is itemized and specifically says that all of my dividends were qualified dividends. So I just excused myself from the fight and called back in.
The third lady was very nice and very smart and able to think outside the box. She told me that I probably wouldn't get caught if I did nothing, but that it was probably smart to go ahead and be proactive. She told me to print out the 1040X and just fill out the top, ignore the worksheet, and then write out the situation on the second page and include the form and a check for $1. At least this way, she said, they'll see that I am acknowledging the issue rather than trying to duck it and if the person who recieves it isn't satisfied they will call me rather than audit me.
So I am sending back ONE DOLLAR of my federal tax return. This is the value of 30 minutes of their support line, and the time someone is going to spend updating my file and cashing the $1 check.
The form arrived today and is a little different from my original. It shows $11.40 in dividends that I'm not convinced I even got. I called Ameritrade and they couldn't provide any level of detail but assured me that it is definitely right and that they are sending the corrected form to the IRS, so I had better do so as well. With 12 days left before the deadline.
Well, I don't know what it is for, but they aren't giving, so I figured I'd better take care of it so I don't get audited. But do you really have to do something about such a small amount? The federal government taxes these at 5%, so the tax incidence is $.57 (which rounds up, by the way. My state taxes slightly higher, but rounds down, so I confirmed that they don't want me to do anything.)
So I called the IRS. It takes a while to get to an actual person with your question, but the lady they sent me to seemed helpful. She told me that I do have to pay, but I just need to fill out a simply 1040X form. Sounds good. So I hung up and went to get the form. But the form only covers normal income. Nothing about dividends. Back to the phone.
The second time, they connected me with a guy with an almost impenatrable accent. He wanted me to go line by line down the new form and read it to him, but Ameritrade doesn't send proper forms. They send these silly, stylized combined forms that don't have all the normal stuff and pretty soon I didn't know what he was asking for. He told me that I had to count it as normal income because they weren't qualified dividends and argued with me for a few minutes about it, despite my assurance that 1) I know what a qualified dividend is and know that these are and 2) the silly form is itemized and specifically says that all of my dividends were qualified dividends. So I just excused myself from the fight and called back in.
The third lady was very nice and very smart and able to think outside the box. She told me that I probably wouldn't get caught if I did nothing, but that it was probably smart to go ahead and be proactive. She told me to print out the 1040X and just fill out the top, ignore the worksheet, and then write out the situation on the second page and include the form and a check for $1. At least this way, she said, they'll see that I am acknowledging the issue rather than trying to duck it and if the person who recieves it isn't satisfied they will call me rather than audit me.
So I am sending back ONE DOLLAR of my federal tax return. This is the value of 30 minutes of their support line, and the time someone is going to spend updating my file and cashing the $1 check.
posted by Axaday | 8:43 PM
1 Comments:
You inspire me.
Luke
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