I had not filed my 2017 and 2018 taxes because my former employer hadn’t sent my w2s to the right address. I had an appointment with Rita, the local tax place in September. They just sent me a form saying I owe 150 for late filing. I had thought I’d made enough for those two years to get some sort of refund. Or is that a separate mailing?
Sorry to bother you guys about this, but someone may know more than I.
(I made 2,000 in 2018 and about 11,000 in 2017.
I once helped my now-wife clean up some back tax filing. There is no penalty for late filing, only on past-due taxes. She received several sizable checks for refunds she was due; no penalty deducted.
Courtesy of “Turbotax”:
**What’s the IRS penalty if I miss the April 2020 filing deadline?
**
***The IRS applies late penalties and interest on a case-by-case basis and will send a separate bill if penalties apply.
Because the IRS has the last word on penalties, we can’t calculate the exact amount if your return is late. But the info below will give you an idea of what to expect in a worst-case scenario (courtesy of IRS Tax Topic 653).
No penalty if you're getting a tax refund.
However, you must file your 2019 taxes by April 15, 2023 (or October 15, 2023, if you filed an extension). After that, any unclaimed tax refunds get turned over to the U.S. Treasury.
No penalty if you file by October 15, 2020, provided you filed an extension and paid your tax bill by April 15, 2020.
Late filing penalties apply if you owe taxes and didn't file your return or extension by April 15, 2020, or if you filed an extension but failed to file your return by October 15, 2020.
The late filing penalty is 5% of the additional taxes owed amount for every month (or fraction thereof) your return is late, up to a maximum of 25%.
If you file more than 60 days after the due date, the minimum penalty is $210 or 100% of your unpaid tax, whichever is less.
Late payment penalties apply if you didn't pay taxes owed by April 15, 2020, regardless of whether you filed an extension or not.
The late payment penalty is 0.5% (1/2 of 1%) of the additional tax owed amount for every month (or fraction thereof) the owed tax remains unpaid, up to a maximum of 25%.
For any month(s) in which both the late-payment and late-filing penalties apply, the 0.5% late-payment penalty is waived.
Interest (compounded daily) starts accumulating on unpaid taxes one day after the due date of the return, until the bill is fully paid off. The current interest rate is 5% (3% on top of the federal short-term rate of 2%) and is subject to change.
Example: Let’s say you didn’t file your return by the April 15 deadline and you owe the IRS an additional $1,000.
Scenario 1: You file an extension on or before April 15 and pay your $1,000 bill on April 25 (10 days late). Your penalty would be $5 (the 0.5% late-payment penalty applied to $1,000), plus another dollar or so for the interest.
Scenario 2: You didn’t file an extension, and you file your return on April 25 (10 days late) along with your $1,000 payment. Your penalty would be $50 (the 5% late-filing penalty applied to $1,000), plus another dollar or so for the interest.
Scenario 3: You file your return 5 years late, along with your $1,000 payment. Your penalty would be around $534 (the maximum late-filing penalty of 25% applied to $1,000, plus 5% interest compounded daily assuming the interest rate doesn’t change).***
That’s not what they told me, I was sure theres a penalty for late filing, especially so late.
I just filed both of them this September.
There is a penalty for late filing, I’m not sure where you’d hear otherwise. It is always better to file and not pay your bill than to do both.
It is impossible to answer without seeing OP’s W-2. Your income was small enough to likely not owe 2018 taxes and potentially have a small bill in 2017. What does Box 2 on the W-2s say, you could get all or most of that back. Additionally, you may or may not be eligible for Earned Income Credit.
Someone double-check me on this please, but …
Isn’t the rule that, if you don’t get your W2(s) on time, you should file anyway without it, and then somehow send them your W2 when you finally get it?
Who is “they”? The IRS? Your state department of revenue?
If “they” is the IRS, call the number in the letter and ask if they can give you a “First Time Penalty Abatement.” Call, they won’t hurt you for asking.
If “they” is the state, each state has its own policies.
Since this involves legal advice, let’s move it to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Call the local tax place who you paid to assist you with tax preparation.
I didn’t pay anyone. I received a notice in Sept. from my local RITA and gave them the print outs of my 17 and 18 w2s.
They then sent me the 150 bill.
I called them and they said they were Local. I have no idea what to do next.
Google tells me that RITA is an agency that handles municipal taxes in Ohio. So, those of us pointing out the fact that federal late filing penalties only apply to a balance due probably aren’t helping much. Maybe some local Ohio dopers know something…
You likely had a tax liability to an Ohio locality that was not covered by any relevant withholding. You employer may not even have withheld anything for you even though they should have known that you would have a liability for any number of reasons, the primary of which is the cost relative to the benefit to them. I don’t know anything about Ohio local tax law other than that localities there have their own income taxes, so I can’t say anything about penalties.
Yes, you probably owe for late filing of your city tax return, even if you would have gotten a refund. This is common for local income taxes in Ohio, and especially common (maybe universal*) in RITA cities. RITA has a pretty nasty reputation, and I’m glad my city doesn’t use it.
*Here is their information on penalties:
"A late filing penalty may be imposed at the rate of $25 per month (or fraction of a month) that a return, other than an estimated income tax return, remains unfiled. **This late filing penalty applies regardless of the liability on the return. **The late filing penalty shall not exceed $150 for each failure to timely file.
Furthermore, something to keep in mind for the future is that most local income taxes in Ohio have mandatory filing for all adult residents. Even if you have a year with no income, you have to send in a return covered in zeroes to avoid getting penalized.
If you work outside of your home city, your employer isn’t required to withhold your home city tax. Many offer to do so as a perk for their employees, but if they don’t, it’s on you to figure it out and (if necessary) file quarterly estimates.
I think I read somewhere once that Ohio has one of the most byzantine and burdensome local tax systems in the USA.
I’m going to have to call the IRS number today. I never did file, but RITA said when I sent them my w2’s they would file them.