$1.00 due to federal

[Marie]

Does taxpayer have to pay the $1.00?  What i read is anything less than $1.00.  None of my returns have cents, so never anything less than $1.00

[Lion EA]

Considering how broken the IRS is, I'd pay it to avoid time-consuming letters later. If you're e-filing with direct debit, it takes little time now to avoid a possible time-drain later. But, let your client decide.

[Marie]

ok, you are right.  and we won't get a letter for years and then won't remember what iit is about. 

[Sara EA]

Some states don't require payment if you owe less than $1 to $5, depending on the state.  I don't think that's true of federal income tax.

[Slippery Pencil]

5 hours ago, Marie said:

What i read is anything less than $1.00.  None of my returns have cents, so never anything less than $1.00

You've answered your own question.

[mcb39]

On 2/10/2025 at 11:41 PM, Slippery Pencil said:

You've answered your own question.

If they have a $1 coming back, I go for it.  The principle of the thing.

[Marie]

[Randall]

A client came in with a 1099-INT she wasn't expecting.  We amended.  She owed Fed $6 and Ky $1.  Ordinarily I would have told her to forget it but she was an IRS employee so I told her she better amend and pay to play it by the book.  She told me she had to keep everything good with the state filing too.  So we amended both and she paid the extra.

[jasdlm]

One time many years ago when I first started practicing, a client owed $1 to the State.  The State had a rule then that they wouldn't refund less than $5 but if you owed $1, you had to pay.  I had the client tape 4 quarters to the return and paper file.  I look back on it now, and it was really silly of me (and probably stupid), but at the time, I remember thinking it was hilarious.  Ah ... our younger selves ...

[Lion EA]

I had a client who kept receiving letters asking for $0. Undoubtedly due to rounding a few cents registered in the IRS computer, but the letters asked for $0. I told him to not worry about it, that the IRS would figure it out and leave him alone. After 1 more letter asking for $0, I told him to mail them a check for $0 with the payment page from the letter. He did. No more letters!

[Randall]

6 hours ago, Lion EA said:

I had a client who kept receiving letters asking for $0. Undoubtedly due to rounding a few cents registered in the IRS computer, but the letters asked for $0. I told him to not worry about it, that the IRS would figure it out and leave him alone. After 1 more letter asking for $0, I told him to mail them a check for $0 with the payment page from the letter. He did. No more letters!

Wow.  What a world.

[Jim Oh Bkkr]

Back when we did returns by hand, I used/didn't use "rounding" to always benefit clients!  $0.30 is $0.30!