Another Sad Story For Not Filing Tax Returns

September 6th, 2021 at 1:27 PM

Here’s a sad story of a dentist who did not file his tax returns.

Of course, as you know, the failure to file tax returns often gets the IRS’s attention. In this case, it did, and this dentist suffered accordingly.

The IRS used the 1099s issued to this dentist by insurance companies and some of the insurance company checks he cashed to identify $43,886 in taxes due, a $10,072 penalty for failure to file, and a $1,754 penalty for failure to pay estimated taxes.

What made this dentist think the IRS would not notice his missing tax return? If he read any newspapers or even watched any television, he had to know that

• the 1099s report his income;
• the IRS matches the 1099s to tax returns; and
• missing 1099s get the attention of the IRS audit process.

It’s true. When you don’t file a tax return, you increase your chances of an IRS audit.

Mark S. Fineberg, CPA