When paying your tax balances or estimated tax payments, there are two ways that commonly create issues with the IRS and the states. These are:
Paying by Check
Making a tax payment with an old-fashioned check creates issues in multiple ways.
- The first is the timing of when the payment is applied. Sometimes the payment will be applied after the payment is due. This can be caused by mailing delays or processing delays.
- The second issue is that sometimes the payment is applied towards the wrong year or period.
- Sometimes the IRS and states take a very long time, from weeks to months to cash the checks.
Making a Payment from Your Spouse’s Tax Account or Social Security Number
For some reason, both the IRS and the state’s may not properly apply tax payments to your account if the payments were made using either your spouse’s social security number or their online tax account if you created one. A good practice is to make all of the payments using the name and social security number of the first person listed on the tax return.
Avoiding Errors
It’s always a good practice to avoid any issues with the taxing authorities because even if they are wrong, it will cost you time, create stress, and money to fix the issue. Sometimes, the cost to fix the issue is greater than assessment itself and then you end up paying knowing the taxing authority is wrong, which is a harsh reality.
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