HOW MANY CLIENTS GOT A NOTICE DISALLOWING EXTENSION?

[USATAXLADY]

Many of my clients have been receiving notices from the IRS, look like this;

IRS                                                                                     OMB Clearance No. : 1545-0074

Stop 6055 C-1                                                                    In reply refer to:  0922323143

Kansas City, MO 64999                                                     Date between: May 25 & June 15, 2021

Taxpayers information

Name, address, SS#

                     Tax periods: Dec. 31, 2019

                     Form: 4868

                     Date of Death:

Dear Taxpayer,

We received your Form 4868 for the tax period shown above. We're unable to grant you an extension.

You didn't request the extension by the due date.

My problem is,

1) These clients had already filed 2019 tax returns last year!

2) None of these clients have died!

3) They requested extensions for 2020 and extensions have been accepted!

My question is how many of your clients have also received a notice like this?

What's up with date of death thrown in there???    

[sjrcpa]

Sounds like another screw up by IRS.

Was there an actual date of death on the notice? Even though no one died.

[poolcleaner]

I had a number of clients receive notices in November 2020 saying they had not filed their 2019 returns (speedy IRS!) when all of them had valid extensions and all had accepted returns before October 15th, 2020. It sounds as if your letter is part of the same mess.  If I remember correctly, @sjrcpa  replied in early 2021 saying there had been 500,000 incorrect notices sent out about this.

[USATAXLADY]

No date of death, but, space for it under             Form : 4868

                                                                 Date of death:

Any of your clients receive anything like this?

The notices are signed;

Sherry A. Mueller

Operations Mgr., Doc. Perfection

Is this for real???

[sjrcpa]

I forget the #, but yes IRS did a mass mailing earlier this year about not filing 2019 returns when they were in fact filed.

[PATAX]

@USATAXLADY @sjrcpa @poolcleaner thanks for the information... Sounds like a mass screw up to me... at least I will know what to say if a client contacts me with something like this...

[dkh]

Haven't seen one of these notices and hope I don't.   These extensions were e-filed?   Do you think it is just a Kansas City, MO Service Center problem?   As @sjrcpa  says - Sounds like another screw up by IRS.       We, as preparers, might understand this happens but it can be hard to convince some clients that IRS is the one making the mistakes.

[poolcleaner]

Mine were filed with Austin. and the incorrect notices were dated in February 2021.

[PATAX]

@sjrcpa apparently not only with 1040 returns but also with 990 / 990-ez returns....

[qbteachmt]

I found this:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-statement-about-cp59-notices

"February 18, 2021

Earlier this month, the IRS issued notices to approximately 260,000 taxpayers stating they haven’t filed their 2019 federal tax return. These notices, referred to as CP59 notices, are issued yearly to identified taxpayers who have failed to file a tax return that was due the prior calendar year (Tax Year 2019). Due to pandemic related shutdowns, the IRS has not completed processing all 2019 returns at this time. Therefore, the CP59 notices should not have been sent because some portion of the recipients may actually have filed a return that is still being processed. People who filed their 2019 return but nevertheless received the CP59 notice, can disregard the letter and do not need to take any action. There is no need to call or respond to the CP59 notice because the IRS continues to process 2019 tax returns as quickly as possible. The IRS regrets any confusion caused by this mailing.

The IRS encourages those who have yet to file their 2019 return to promptly do so."

[PATAX]

@qbteachmt great job qb... maybe they should hire more people or subcontractors or whatever and get these 2019 returns processed...

[dkh]

I think the OP's original issue is being overlooked.   It wasn't a notice that 2019 return wasn't filed.  It was a notice disallowing a 2019 Form 4868 

[PATAX]

@dkh 👍dkh you are right but I think both issues are tied in to problems created by understaffing and work overload resulting from coronavirus epidemic....

[qbteachmt]

If you sign up for e-newsletters, you will get the notices, similar to the one I posted. From early 2020 onward, there are a bazillion missives from the IRS that all state something similar: Oops, our fault that our system is kicking out these timely semi-automated notices that in a normal year would be applicable, but right now, we don't seem to be able to get to your mail/email in a timely fashion, and we forgot to stop the automated messaging that was going to result.