Who still files income tax via snail mail?

[FloridaJim57]

And how long does it usually take for you to get your Federal refund?

 

[Gumby]

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.

 

[Taxman59]

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!

 

[pb4uski]

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.

 

[scrabbler1]

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.

 

[Lakedog]

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).

 

[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.

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.

 

[Winemaker]

I will always file on paper. Yeah, I'm a Luddite, but I like it.

 

[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.

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.

 

[NgineER]

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.

+1

 

[Beldar]

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

 

[Midpack]

Per the IRS

 

[Car-Guy]

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.

 

[Koolau]

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?

 

[ERD50]

Per the IRS

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-season-refund-frequently-asked-questions

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.

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

 

[audreyh1]

I file by paper if I owe. I e-file, as early as possible, if I am due a refund.

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.

 

[aja8888]

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.

 

[Jerry1]

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.

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.

 

[Lakedog]

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.

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.

 

[njhowie]

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.

 

[CardsFan]

I file by paper if I owe. I e-file, as early as possible, if I am due a refund.

Why file by mail if you owe? You can schedule the payment electronically for whenever you want?

 

[Gumby]

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....

That's why I go to the post office and send it certified mail. Then I have proof that the IRS got it.

 

[jebmke]

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.

For a while I had to file paper (I was an ex-pat with a lot of foreign stuff).

After I filed 2009 they sent me a CP letter and in the middle of the process they proceeded to lose my entire file. Return, correspondence, everything. I had to provide a new copy of the whole sequence and start over. It didn't resolve until 2012.

 

[jimbee]

Why file by mail if you owe? You can schedule the payment electronically for whenever you want?

Yep.

No way in h**l do I file by mail.

 

[RobbieB]

I'll gladly fork over the $20 to file state to avoid the potential morass of dealing with a lost return. I gladly pay TT the $70/yr for the ease of just putting numbers in boxes.

Cheap compared to the $500-1000 for a CPA.