When a client in her 90s calls to ask what to do with the bill she received from IRS for 75 cents, don’t immediately assume she’s the one with a problem.

She filed the return in early March, with a 1040-V and a check for $28. Today she received a notice that she owes five months of late-payment penalty, 2.5%, which comes out to 69 cents. (OK, I get 70 cents, but I'm not using the IRS computer.) And then they add 6 cents interest, so the balance due is 75 cents.

If they didn’t get the payment by April 15 they didn’t get the return either, but they’re not assessing late-filing penalty.

I asked if she had noticed when IRS cashed her check, but she hadn't tracked that.

Has anyone else seen this? IRS doesn’t get free postage, so with paper and envelope it cost them more than 75 cents to send this. WWES (what would Elon say?).