NON FILING LETTER

[TAXMAN]

Any one have a good non filing letter that we could use to tell TP they do not need to file a return. ATX at one point had one but I can't find it. I guess I can create one in word and then try to bring it in. Just curious.

[Lee B]

I have had this come up but not in recent years. Never thought of using an actual letter, but it's a good idea.

It needs to have a phrase, "based on the information and documents that you have provided to us . . . . . .

"Please contact us if you become aware of any additional information . . . . 

[Lion EA]

Filing starts the SOL running. Why would you not file?

[Lee B]

Perhaps to avoid our fee

[Lion EA]

How much do you charge to write them the letter?

Do they qualify for RRC3 or EIC or...?

[kathyc2]

13 hours ago, Lion EA said:

Filing starts the SOL running. Why would you not file?

I have a lot of senior clients with AGI below the standard deduction.  The only reason I still file for them is that IN has such a low filing threshold. 

 

[Lion EA]

Low income seniors might qualify for a little EIC now or the RRC3. Some of the towns around me offer a property tax discount or credit or rebate for seniors with low income; some need to take in tax returns every year or every other or every third year. Some of my clients need to show a couple low-income years after a high-income year (sold house, maybe) to get their Medicare cost back down. As you say, some state filing thresholds are lower than the federal. Start the SOL. So many reasons to file.

[kathyc2]

23 minutes ago, Lion EA said:

 Start the SOL. So many reasons to file.

LOL!  I don't think seniors that have Social Security and a couple hundred of interest income need to worry about SOL.  No reason to pay me to prepare a return that is not required or offers them zero benefit.

[Lion EA]

Had a grown child (parent had been my client, not grown child) call me frantic, because in her mother's (now deceased) retirement community apartment that "the kids" were cleaning out there were multiple IRS letters that said she hadn't reported her winnings from Mohegan Sun a few years before she died. But mother had stopped coming to me a couple years prior to her winnings, apologizing but saying she really didn't have to file any longer. "The kids" had already divvied up mom's bank accounts and things. How were they going to pay for that, the GC whined. I no longer knew mom's tax situation, but if she'd been filing returns it might've been past the SOL. No longer my problem. So, make sure your non-filer clients didn't take up gambling as a retirement hobby!

[joanmcq]

I’m currently filing a return that I’ve informed the client that he no longer has a filing requirement, but he wants to continue due to ID theft.  I only charge a minimal amount.

[Gail in Virginia]

I have a client that has not had a filing requirement for years.  He wants their joint tax return filed so that if something happens to him, his wife has a record of the returns that were filed and doesn't have to worry about something coming up after he is gone.  Like Joan, I charge a minimal fee and do what he wants. 

[Catherine]

I have a couple of clients for whom we file every year without official requirements. One wants that SOL to be started. The other lives in subsidized housing and requires a copy of her return every year to prove her continued eligibility for the subsidy.  If we have to prepare it anyway, it's dumb not to file it too.  I charge very little for those returns (and no charge for the 2nd paper copy for the lady getting the subsidy - and she gives it to the board, or whoever demands it).