Jim wrote something about an accountant being required for 501c3 orgs. JHB and I haven't seen that requirement.
Massachusetts does have a requirement, when submitting Form PC (tax return for a public charity), that an accountant sign off if the gross revenue is > $200k (was $100k -- and MA has a slightly different gross revenue calculation than the IRS). Sorry if you read my post to mean that an accountant was involved in MA when filing IRS forms.
JHB;147603 wrote: Jim - I'd be interested in more information on this if you find it. I've never heard of the IRS requiring use of an accountant, although when things get complex, it may certainly be a good idea. Regardless, if this clause does exist, it's bound to be an an income level far above one most PTOs would ever face.
There is such a clause in Massachusetts, perhaps that's what Jim was thinking about? The threshold was raised from $100k to $200k just in the past couple months.
Letter with penalty calculation, due date, payment voucher, and an explanation of how to send them communication on the issue. I never did call the penalty folks.
As I recall (and it's been awhile), you get a letter stating the issue, penalty amount, due date, and some basic information on recourse. I don't know that the letter went into detail. I think maybe it gave you a department to call and they explained it.
Part of the frustration for me was that the Penalty office is a whole different world than the Tax Exempt Organization office. The tax exempt folks were always so nice and helpful. Phone wait times were minimal. They were used to dealing with a lot of small, uninformed organizations and very patient.
The Penalty office folks very brusque. My general feeling was that the culture of that office was simply "Yeah, yeah, we've heard it all. You are just another case number." There was also something odd about the hours. (Can't remember what.) It wasn't the typical 8-5 kind of operation and the phone wait times were very long. I think the 800 number on the letter was even wrong. They were much harder to reach.
Then again, the IRS has done some substantial reorganization and work on customer service in recent years. And much depends on the personality of the person on the phone. So someone else might have a completely different experience.
By the way - I looked back on some old records. This one actually took about 4 months to resolve, not 6.
