Late 5500's, But Not REally

[austin3515]

Client insists that they filed their 2007 5500. IRS sends out a notice saying the filing was never received. The first thing we do is respond saying, no it WAS filed, and here is a copy of the filing. They then respond and say, you need to efile this 2007 return.

What are people doing at this point? Fighting with the governemtn to convince them that it was filed? Or doing the efiling/DFVC program? At the end of the day, sicne this goes back 2 years, I can't see how anyone could say with absolute certaintly that it was filed (client does not have return receipts). I've been taking the cautious route saying that a known $750 is better than an unknown $15,000.

Also, now that they are asking us to efile, I think we have less basis for then going back and using the DFVC.

[Belgarath]

Sometimes we find that if you check Freeerisa.com, you can see that the form has indeed been filed and received. This gives you a stronger argument, obviously! However, we find that most of the time this isn't the case, and most clients, particularly once they check with their CPA, are just going DFVC to put it behind them.

[austin3515]

We always start there, I should have mentioned... Occassionally, it's a plan ein/number issue, but as you point it is often wishful thinking!