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Who still files income tax via snail mail?
03-14-2023, 01:16 PM
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#1
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 104
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Who still files income tax via snail mail?
And how long does it usually take for you to get your Federal refund?
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03-14-2023, 01:24 PM
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#2
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 20,470
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I still file on paper. I filed my Tax Year 2020 return by certified mail on 19 Feb 2021. I got my refund on 21 Jun 2021. It was so late they had to pay me interest. Of course, that was at the height of the Covid disruptions. I hope they have improved since then.
I owed for Tax Year 2021, and will owe for Tax Year 2022.
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Living an analog life in the Digital Age.
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03-14-2023, 02:10 PM
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#3
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 643
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I filed an extension and overpaid. The return was filed about a month later. The extension payment has never cleared, and I received a notice stating I owed $$$. It took them almost 3 months to acknowledge the return was filed, and another 2 months to say I was underpaid!
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03-14-2023, 02:19 PM
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#4
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 33,547
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My neanderthal friend files paper (I prepare his return, mail it to him, he signs it and mails to IRS). Last year he waited a long time for his refund.
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If something cannot endure laughter.... it cannot endure.
Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Retired Jan 2012 at age 56
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03-14-2023, 02:24 PM
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#5
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,469
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I file returns for myself and 3 other people on paper, making 8 returns (federal and state) in all. Except for 1 return, any money which changes hands is done electronically. For federal returns which money is owed and is paid electronically, I do that beforehand, when I mail the paper return out. For federal returns with a refund due, or with all state returns, the money changes hands when the return is processed.
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Retired in late 2008 at age 45. Cashed in company stock, bought a lot of shares in a big bond fund and am living nicely off its dividends. IRA, SS, and a pension await me at age 60 and later. No kids, no debts.
"I want my money working for me instead of me working for my money!"
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03-14-2023, 02:28 PM
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#6
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 943
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I still file on paper but can offer no help as to refund timing. I always try to underpay by a few hundred $ so haven't had a refund in many years (at least since I retired in 2008).
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03-14-2023, 02:40 PM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 7,471
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Locally we have zero, zero confidence in the mail. For good reasons. I'd be worried that they never got my return, let alone what happened to my check.
Everyone around here either does things online or goes to FedEx. At least for our taxes are sent online and you get a near instant acknowledging.
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Living well is the best revenge!
Retired @ 52 in 2005
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03-14-2023, 02:43 PM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: The Great Wide Open
Posts: 3,421
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I will always file on paper. Yeah, I'm a Luddite, but I like it.
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Give me Liberty or give me Death. Patrick Henry
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03-14-2023, 02:49 PM
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#9
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Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: San Diego
Posts: 13,519
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I file by paper if I owe. I e-file, as early as possible, if I am due a refund.
I file state by mail because they charge to e-file.
My MIL owes big this year and her taxes will be filed by mail. My husband is her legal conservator. He had issues getting the treasury department to recognize the guardianship/conservatorship and give him the power to cash out savings bonds (EE) that she'd accumulated through the years. It took several years of being ignored by treasury direct folks before he got our congressional office involved and he was connected with someone who acknowledged they had all the paperwork and would no longer block the cashing of bonds. So in 2022, when they unstuck the process, he cashed out all of the expired (no more interest) bonds - $65000 worth. So she owes this year for the first time in many many years.
I do her taxes (for my husband). Fortunately, going forward the amount of bonds cashed will be smaller so she'll go back to being super low income with very high medical bills (memory care) and owing nothing. She's 96 and it's a crapshoot if she'll outlive her money.
She (well, hubby) always filed her Michigan state by paper since they do taxes a little different and she typically owed < $100, but owed.
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Retired June 2014. No longer an enginerd - now I'm just a nerd.
micro pensions 6%, rental income 20%
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03-14-2023, 02:53 PM
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#10
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 938
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rodi
I file by paper if I owe. I e-file, as early as possible, if I am due a refund.
I file state by mail because they charge to e-file.
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+1
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03-14-2023, 02:54 PM
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#11
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 520
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We always file a paper return, primarily because I want to force myself to read the instructions for each line on all the various forms & schedules, so I can actually understand what is going on.
Having worked for decades with software simulations I DO NOT have blind trust in someone else's implementation of what I can do with pen & paper. Plus, it is an active mental exercise that I enjoy.
I'm like that old geezer who wants paper rather that SW in that old commercial abt 30 yrs ago (I forget which company was hawking it's product).
Oh, and the refunds have been taking any 3-4 months each time.
_B
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03-14-2023, 02:56 PM
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#12
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 19,339
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Per the IRS
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Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 40% bonds / 10% cash
Target WR: Approx 2.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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03-14-2023, 02:59 PM
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#13
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Back in the Dog House
Posts: 8,881
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I still file by US mail. They received my return (USPS Tracking) 3 weeks ago this coming Thursday. The "Where's my Refund" website says it has been received and is being processed.
I just don't trust that newfangled Internet thing.
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I don't know how to act my age since I've never been this old before.
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03-14-2023, 03:31 PM
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#14
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Leeward Oahu
Posts: 12,628
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Only reason I don't file by snail mail is that my CPA files electronically for me. I just sign a form that she keeps on file.
By the way, with the roughly 90K new agents, do you suppose that any of them will be assigned to dealing with things like the backlog of snail mail submissions? Or are they all for compliance as we have been led to believe?
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Ko'olau's Law -
Anything which can be used can be misused. Anything which can be misused will be.
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03-14-2023, 03:35 PM
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#15
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 25,812
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That looks like old info, which I've found often comes up in a search. I added "2022" and got this:
https://www.irs.gov/refunds/tax-seas...sked-questions
Quote:
How quickly will I get my refund? (updated January 30, 2023)
We issue most refunds in less than 21 calendar days. However, if you filed on paper and are expecting a refund, it could take four weeks or more to process your return. Where’s My Refund? has the most up to date information available about your refund.
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Although "or more" is really opening the barn door to anything. The info people are really looking for is how soon. So it should be something like "unless there are issues, 90% should be processed within X weeks".
Another aggravation, I had that small amount to report on my FILs (previously closed/final) 1041. Just one entry so I didn't want to pay $$$ for tax software, so I mailed it in, with ~ $20 due. So how soon should I expect them to cash that check (so I know they got it)? Well, there is a tracking site, but only for refunds.
-ERD50
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03-14-2023, 03:35 PM
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#16
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 34,657
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rodi
I file by paper if I owe. I e-file, as early as possible, if I am due a refund.
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Is that because you mail in a check with your return? We always e-file, and schedule any payment to occur on 4/15 if we owe anything no matter how much earlier we’ve e-filed.
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Retired since summer 1999.
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03-14-2023, 03:37 PM
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#17
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: The Woodlands, TX
Posts: 16,863
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Ever since the IRS "lost" a business tax return of mine (they received it - I have the proof) and then tried to fine me $15,000+ interest over the three years it took to straighten out their mess, I NEVER will file a paper return with them again.
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Now a widower and wondering what the rest of my life has in store for me?
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03-14-2023, 03:40 PM
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#18
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 7,718
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rodi
I file by paper if I owe. I e-file, as early as possible, if I am due a refund.
I file state by mail because they charge to e-file.
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I file electronically because it's quicker and well documented that it was transmitted. Also, it's free with Turbo Tax and probably most tax software. I used to mail in the State for the same reason - they charge $20. However, I've succumbed to the convenience of filing electronically for State too.
If I was filing by mail, I would do some work to ensure that I owe a little bit of a tax. Refunds just take too long these days. I'd roll a refund forward but with that, I'd be afraid that it would not be recorded by the time I need to do next years tax return.
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Every day when I open my eyes now it feels like a Saturday - David Gray
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03-14-2023, 03:43 PM
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#19
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 943
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marko
Locally we have zero, zero confidence in the mail. For good reasons. I'd be worried that they never got my return, let alone what happened to my check.
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I include a check which they always deposit within a day or two of receiving the return so that is another verification that the IRS received. I'm sure they don't process the return for sometime but no concern to me since I'm not waiting on a refund.
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03-14-2023, 03:52 PM
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#20
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,437
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Last year I missed the Turbotax e-file deadline and had to mail. My refund came fairly quickly after IRS received it - just 2 or 3 weeks at most.
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