Have all of you done this yet?
by admin ~ September 15th, 2008 . Filed under: United States .
Recently, I’ve seen a number of questions that go something like, “My grandfather hasn’t filed taxes for 15 years….. What do we do?” Unfortunately, by the time you ask that type question it’s way too late to do anything about it.
Do every one of you request your Social Security Earnings Statement every single year? The government is supposed to send you one just before your birthdate every year. If they don’t, you should request it yourself: http://www.ssa.gov/online/ssa-7004.html
Do every one of you request your free annual credit report every single year? You should request your report from all 3 major credit reporting companies every year: https://www.annualcreditreport.com
The fact that you ask tax-related and financial-related questions on this forum shows that you are interested.
The reports are free. And they might help keep you out of those god-awful financial situations that start off with “I know I should have but I haven’t done…… in 10 years.”
True “The Bomb Diggity”. But, if I tell you, and you tell all your relatives and your friends and they do the same, there will be a positive impact on many more individual taxpayers than just the select few who read this U.S. tax forum.
To “J”. Note that your Social Security earnings may be less than your gross earnings if:
(1) your gross earnings exceed the social security earnings cap, or
(2) you withheld certain pre-tax dollars from your gross earnings.
If you still think that earnings for years before last year are shown incorrectly on your social security earnings statement, call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213 (7a.m. - 7p.m. your local time). If possible, have your W-2 or tax return for those years available.
James Donaghey
September 20th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I do all of the above and more.
The silly thing is that most folks who don’t file have only lost out on refund money that would have been paid to them had they filed, sometimes well into tens of thousands of dollars.
I worked with a guy a while ago who used to brag that he hadn’t filed a tax return since 1969 and the IRS never once came after him. We sat down one weekend and worked up some numbers based upon the information he had available and some old tax forms and books from my late father’s CPA practice. It took most of the weekend and about a case of beer later we figured that he’d lost out on over $20,000 in tax refunds over the years. No wonder the IRS never came after him — he was one of their favorite cash cows! He had over $5,000 coming his way from the open years that we could file for so we took care of that but he’s still pissing and moaning about the lost thousands over the years.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:21 am
The truth is, you’re asking a very select few if they’re following the rules. If you’re a small business owner, you have to take care of all the earnings statements yourself. What does that mean? It means you have to hire an accountant and prove what you made to the government each year. This is usually very expensive and requires a lot of planning. The government has no idea how much you make and that’s why they’re trying to stop the loopholes that are currently in the tax system.
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:44 am
Thank you for asking this question. I receive my every year. The amount of income earned is less than what I made. How do I go about correcting this? I’ve always worked — even when I was pregnant with my child. I’ve had several different employers in different states. Should I contact my local Social Security Office? Thank you and Happy Easter!