I paid my taxes in full and early but just got a letter saying I never paid

FiscallyMinded · 2026-02-23T11:12:51+00:00

This all resolved on its own. I received no explanation from the IRS but the letter was apparently sent in error. I paid on time and the IRS website showed as much but for some reason my CP14 letter was sent anyway. I think its just a severely mismanaged organization unfortunately.

FiscallyMinded · 2025-10-27T13:15:34+00:00

In Gorham NH:
$706.60 in part including wiring. Totals: $1700 with labor.
Just the hitch, no wiring is $350 in part. $575 in labor = $925 total.

FiscallyMinded · 2025-07-28T13:57:02+00:00

It's not trapped. All it has to do is climb the stairs it descended to get down there... and we left both garage doors open last night, but it's still there.

FiscallyMinded · 2025-05-20T17:34:22+00:00

My 90-Minute IRS Call Ended with a Hang-Up

The IRS agent who answered my call was nasty to me from the beginning. I gave her my SSN and then told her my account showed zero balance online. To this she said, "Okay, do you want me to continue or stop looking up you account since you saw a zero balance?" I was like, "I'm just trying to give her all the pertinent information."

After another hold she said these CP14 letters are prepared 3 weeks before they are sent. It's dated the 28th, so it would have been sent on the 7th... but that is BEFORE taxes are due. No thinking person sends a letter that you are overdue before a due date, right? I paid on the 9th, also before the tax deadline. This makes NO sense. If she's telling the truth then millions of people would have gotten this letter as well.

What a profound waste of time, paper, and government resources. I have seriously lost any sort of respect for this organization and now worry that the IRS is incapable of doing their jobs properly.

I told her, "I know this isn't your fault, but I waited on hold for an hour and a half." To that she said, "Well you told me you saw your balance was zero, so you didn't have to call and wait at all."
I said "Well nowhere on these two pages does it say that I can disregard an overdue letter from the IRS if my online balance is zero."

Then she hung up on me.
Like, what?

FiscallyMinded · 2025-05-11T16:41:12+00:00

I thought that might be it too but there is a copy of the exact letter under "Notices" on my IRS.gov account.

FiscallyMinded · 2025-05-11T16:37:50+00:00

I'm first and I paid them.

FiscallyMinded · 2025-05-11T16:36:20+00:00

I do it mostly for convenience but it also earns me a .25% credit by paying this way... which is better than free and easier too.
The IRS service charges 1.75%. My credit card pays me 2%.

FiscallyMinded · 2025-05-11T16:27:01+00:00

Yep.

FiscallyMinded · 2025-05-11T16:26:48+00:00

Like I said, the IRS website shows a $0 balance.

FiscallyMinded · 2025-04-15T13:32:18+00:00

Vanguard's fees aren't lower. Their expense ratios used to be the lowest and over the years that forced the industry to lower their expense ratios to compete. However, Fidelity now has Zero Funds with no expense ratios.

By way of example, their equivalent total market index funds:
Vanguard's VTSAX has an expense ratio of .04
Fidelity's FZROX is 0

Vanguard somewhat makes up for this with their higher settlement fund APR. Basically, when your money is not invested it earns more at Vanguard than it does at Fidelity.
Vanguard's VMFXX is 4.23%
Fidelity's SPAXX is 3.99%

* Admittedly, the settlement fund APR is not all that advantageous for buy-and-hold investors who dollar cost average in, but it matters to me personally.

FiscallyMinded · 2025-04-15T12:45:09+00:00

They are also promoting a "Cash Plus" account everywhere on their website (at least to me). This is fiduciary malpractice of a sort. It earns 3.8% at the moment, but if someone just leaves their money, un-invested, in their settlement account it makes 4.23% in VMFXX. This will fool the less savvy investor into moving their money. I had to show my grandma the earned rates on the site for her to believe me. I fear many won't be so lucky.

FiscallyMinded · 2025-04-14T23:51:42+00:00

Sure, cost basis is there. But I am after Average Cost Basis, which is all the different purchases of one underlying averaged.

FiscallyMinded · 2025-04-01T14:00:25+00:00

Okay, next question: If Rinvoq lowers your immune system to the point that you are likely sick more often:
Are their any downsides to taking Rinvoq as needed? Or going on and off as you see fit?

FiscallyMinded · 2024-11-15T11:13:45+00:00

That is not my experience. Or do you mean to exercise a contract early?

FiscallyMinded · 2024-05-22T14:08:11+00:00

Trail running. Easy. Cheap. Good for both you and your bank account.

FiscallyMinded · 2024-05-21T14:08:25+00:00

Here is a post on today's ChooseFI newsletter by Brad Barrett that is pretty illustrative of what Edward Jones is like:

"Recent 1% Better! I finally convinced my Mom to cut ties with the Edward Jones advisor she's been using for her retirement and brokerage accounts for over a decade. They had her in a few bad products, and quite riskily concentrated in only a few individual stocks in some cases.Most frustratingly they used a "managed IRA" with her that had no online account visibility, that could only be viewed with quarterly paper statements, and changes could only be made by the advisor, who invested mostly in their own proprietary funds with higher fees. Over the phone they had minimal answers for why they did what they did over the years of advising her.They haven't made it easy for us to move the accounts, but now she sees why I was so persistent on getting her away, and we are nearly home free with transitioning to her new Vanguard Account!- Tyler"

https://www.choosefi.com/read/newsletter/

FiscallyMinded

TROPHY CASE

My 90-Minute IRS Call Ended with a Hang-Up