CP81 Notice for tax year 2022

time to pull a transcript and see whats really going on

What was the tax, balance due and refund on the return that was e-filed?  Why are you reluctant to send a duplicate return?  What kind of miracle do you expect from a call to an IRS employee who has been detailed from a real job to answer the phones? Was an extension filed, so the statute won’t expire for another couple months on 2022?  Has another $20K payment been made by the same taxpayer, perhaps on another account, in the last few years?  

they owed $9K on the original filed return - which was efiled and accepted prior to 4/15/23 - timely filed return. They are confirming that the IRS cashed their original payment and if so when. The letter says that they DID NOT FILE for that year. Which I know is false. I will send another copy if we need to but wanted to know why they said they had no return on file. 

Did one spouse get the letter when they were the second taxpayer listed on a joint return? I had a client get one of these for 2024 when she filed jointly with her spouse who died in 2024.

The price you pay for e-filing?  Can you even still show that you received an ack when this was transmitted?  Is the $20K the total credits that should be on the account, including the $9K final payment?  Before a futile call to IRS, checking on whether the check was cashed would have been a good idea.  Was it even a check, or an electronic payment? 

The bad news is there might be ES penalty once they get around to processing the paper return.  The good news is that Kwong might take care of it.  

I suspect the account has the large credit because the IRS has cashed the checks and is sitting on the money, waiting to match it to the return. Meanwhile, although the e-filed return shows a status of accepted, I’ve learned they will archive it (that’s the phrase for setting it aside) if they think anything is fraudulent.

My mother’s husband died in 2022. She filed single in 2023. Because of that death and her move to a new address, Social Security had her account flagged, even though they kept making her benefit payments. The IRS recorded the mismatch as potentially fraudulent. We didn’t know this until the 2024 1040 e-file bounced back twice. Her 2024 return was then paper filed, April 2025.

That was last Summer. I went to both Social Security and IRS officers to get everyone updated by each other. That was two visits each. IRS confirmed to me in person they had the 2023 and 2024 returns and I validated her ID. That’s what they called it, “validated.”

In Nov 2025 and Jan 2026 she got delinquent return notices for 2024 form 1040. I went in to the IRS on May 1, 2026. I validated the ID again. They confirmed the e-filed 2023 would be released and processed (!), they faxed and stamped 2024 right in the office. I was told to give it at least 80 days. 

I had put her 2025 1040 on extension per the recommendation by the IRS agent helping me, because she was overpaid by withholding and estimates, so the refunds each year were to be applied to the next year, and neither 2023 nor 2024 show up as overpaid on her account yet. If we file 2025 and she owes, it would trigger an underpayment penalty. 

She got a "final notice" letter in May 2026, after my IRS appointment, for 2024. In June it took me 17 calls in 3 days simply to make an appointment. Hang ups, on hold for hours and transfer hangups, two people tried to help me avoid an appointment. I learned all I need to do is keep repeating: I want to make an appointment. I got one. 

We refaxed my authorization form, since I'm supposed to be getting copies of what she gets. We ran through 2023 and 2024 again. Nothing has changed. This time, he could make my next appointment while I was there. 

I go back Aug 6.

She's 90. Her checks never stopped coming, 3 are Federal sources: DFAS, OPM, Social Security. She's also got Treasury Direct holdings. They know she's not dead, they know her address, they know she's paying through withholding, they know everything. They have everything, including her money. I’ve got the draft of 2025 and she is overpaid.