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Yes they have been going after the low hanging fruit because it's easy picking. The average taxpayer can't afford or usually doesn't retain competent representation. Going after the wealthy tax cheats requires experienced IRS Agents. The wealthy make political contributions and have some clout with our elected representatives. That's not the way it's supposed to work, but the wealthy have power and the average taxpayer doesn't.

After just reading about the millionaire non-filers, I would just leave it alone. W2 withholding and SE Tax end up about the same. Apparently the IRS just doesn't know their butt from their elbow and are going after the little guys. I doubt that this would ever be questioned. Just because they might have an EIN doesn't mean that they conducted any business. A little humor here as I had two young fellows approach me this summer to set up their Partnership. They came in together and I told them explicitly what the steps were going to be and they both assured me that they understood. They both promised to bring me the Partnership return as well as their separate personal returns. I never like to prepare a 1065 if I don't also get to prepare the returns of the Partners. So far, that has always been the case. The Primary Partner here already was a client of mine as a Sch C filer. We can do good things and issue great guidance if they only learn to ask.

Common sense, or dollar sense at play. Like an old textbook said, those that spend hours finding a one cent issue may be good, but they are fired. Anything which takes more than automation likely has some sort of review and profitability calculation. We even talk about it here, as long as the result is close, file as is...

@Gail in VirginiaTake a look at Rev Proc 2013-30 for the late filing of the 8832 and the late S election. I think you have 3 years to file this...but check it out yourself, I only skimmed it. It may be your "magic bullet" to pull dumb and dumber out of this mess. There will most likely be a late filing penalty, and I don't think you can get them out of that (and frankly, I wouldn't try, they need to pay the price for their actions) Tom Longview, TX

I don't know, Tom. I thought that had to be done on a timely filed return which this is not. It should have been filed by September 15. Also, I thought that the automatic forgiveness was if the return was filed in time for the partners to file on time. Neither partner got an extension because they both filed based on their W2 rather than after the partnership return. I did point out that if they ever start another business, they might was to talk to a tax advisor before they begin instead of after they mess it up.

I plan to file the 1065 - I just questioned whether I would need to correct the mess they made by filing w2s on themselves first.

I have found an excellent IT support person who works remotely and is customizing a WISP plan for me, along with ongoing IT support. If anyone here is interested in talking to him, send me a message and I'll pass along his contact information.

Wages

Ignore it and file as is. The taxes are almost exactly the same either way.

I have been pulling transcripts for over 20 years, Income, Account and Return. Income, or Wage & Income, have always been available in the last week of May. Sometimes, things like K-1's don't show up until later in the year. This year is different. Some people's have transcripts of all their usual forms.; some only have part and one person doesn't have any. I have had Income transcripts with 1099-Misc with EIN's and with SSN's. I don't think we are talking about the same thing. The first link applies to Tax Return transcripts; the other are general instructions. Thanks for trying CBS

Ramsey Soultions?? I looked into being a Ramsey Pro and quickly declined. To join, they wanted $1,000.00 training fee plus $149.95 per month membership and 40% of your fee for individuals and 60% for business. I thought this was crazy. I had never heard of the Lampo Group, LLC and didn't know they offered any tax prep. I'm glad I refused.

I*have* to be short, @BulldogTom else my oversized personality would bowl everyone over! This is for your safety.

From Accounting Today (https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/nearly-1-000-millionaires-havent-filed-tax-returns?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=V3_ACT_Daily_2023%2B'-'%2B09292023&bt_ee=fMQ78G8x0gMlOszDL6tIXguYXicXpBsOOKz85EP29RhzrWYKXQsNoj1cFfCpLDXp&bt_ts=1695989439817) "Close to 1,000 taxpayers who earn over $1 million a year failed to file tax returns over multiple recent years, potentially owing $34 billion in taxes, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service. Senate Finance Committee chairman Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, revealed the data in a letter Thursday to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, and urged the IRS to step up its enforcement efforts against wealthy taxpayers. Werfel announced efforts earlier this month to do that by focusing more of its audits on high-income taxpayers, large partnerships and big corporations. According to IRS data, the top 500 high-income individuals who still have not filed returns for each year from 2017 to 2020 owed $923 million and yet were unlikely to face serious consequences. However, only two of those 2,000 individuals were under active criminal investigation by the IRS and only 58 have been subjected to financial penalties such as liens or levies. The data showed that over 1.4 million wealthy tax cheats had still not filed required tax returns for tax years 2017 to 2020 and the total amount of unpaid taxes potentially owed by this population amounted to $65.7 billion. "Many of these high-income nonfilers are repeat offenders," said Wyden. "According to IRS data, 10,272 taxpayers still had multiple years of unfiled returns and six figure balances of unpaid taxes going back to 2017–2020. In fact, nearly 1,000 taxpayers making more than $1 million per year have failed to file tax returns over multiple recent years." Due to resource constraints and prosecutorial discretion, he noted most of the cases never get referred to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. Of the 10, 272 repeat offenders, only 154 have ever been under criminal investigation, and only 31 were in active criminal investigation this year. " Another reason why the average taxpayer has little confidence in the IRS. They send my clients, many who are retired and living on fixed incomes, letters threatening to place levies and liens on their assets over a $500 tax bill, yet these cheats get away with owing millions. Imagine what the return on investment would be if they hired more investigators and prosecutors to go after these tax cheats.