They just could NOT Wait

[S T]

Well I have already received a phone call today for a 2009 CP 2000 Notice from IRS - couldn't they have waited about 2 more weeks - So had to spend 30 minutes assuring the client it is only a matching document - NOT and audit - I need the notice - so I can review.




Sandy

[Gary2]

My understanding is that they throttle the notices throughout the year, to match the availability of agents. I wonder if they start opening the valve around now, in anticipation of agents who were previously providing tax-season services becoming available to do CP-2000 service.

[joanmcq]

No this is the time they start coming out; usually mid=march. The computers the AUR units shut down in Dec/Jan to retool for the new tax season. It takes about a year for the data mining to start the matching process. So what you get in March are the people that filed early in the season the year before.

[Gary2]

I guess that makes more sense, though I'm disappointed it takes so long. I've always attributed much of the lag to the delay in getting W-2 information from the SSA to the IRS, but that's supposed to be done by the summer. If it really takes the IRS until the following March to retool, that would explain why there's no pressure to get the W-3 info to the IRS by the same 1/31 deadlines for the W-2s.

I thought I've seen some rare same-year CP2000s for missing withholding, but after a while, the years, CP numbers, reasons, and states all blend together.

[outwest]

I think one error in these timing questions is..

that folks think humans have any part in this process. Let's think this through.

1. Prior year finishes up on Oct 15, no point in matching until all the returns including the late filed paper returns are in, say Dec 1st at the earliest.
2. Need to get the computers reset for the new filing season, probably mid January on that project, Feb 15 this year. It's not the RA that are a problem it's IT.
3. Run the matching program and start generating the CP2000's

Not a one of those steps involve a human looking at the return (with the exception of the GS-1 data entry clerk keypunching a paper return).

The first human to see any anything regarding the mismatch is your client opening the notice.

The computer doesn't give a rip about your workload, it's just programmed to process X number of notices a day. Though they could kick them all out in a week, I suspect they are metered to avoid overloading the phone lines at the IRS, the only workload issue they care about. Your workload is not an issue, get over it.

A tired and grumpy CPA....

[JohnH]

Well now, that's pretty harsh. I just KNEW that the kinder, gentler IRS we had all been hearing about was becoming a reality. Boy is my bubble burst. How am I going to get through the day?...

[thomtax]

Well now, that's pretty harsh. I just KNEW that the kinder, gentler IRS we had all been hearing about was becoming a reality. Boy is my bubble burst. How am I going to get through the day?...

JohnH - You probably should not even try. Just knock off and go fishing and you will have a completely different outlook on things, at least for the afternoon.

Then you can start over again tomorrow and there will be one less day to have to worry about it.

LT

[JohnH]

I don't fish, but I've thought about taking it up for the experience and to help other people. It's a philosophical thing. After all, if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day. But if you teach a man to fish, then for the rest of his life you can make a good living selling him all kinds of fishing gear.