I moved from Ohio to Florida lived in FL for almost 6yrs. then moved to Missouri. Lived in MO for 4yrs at which time I bought a house. I then started getting (by mail) letters from OH that I owed taxes for not filing a return. Now I'm getting phone calls from laywers collecting for the state of Ohio. Since FL does not have a state tax I e-stored my federal returns but did not keep my state since there was no need. I have searched to try and find the answer without any luck, unless I want to pay $100. How do I defend myself? Many thanks for a point in the right direction.
2007-01-08 01:49:00 · 6 answers · asked by Rick M 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
I lived in OH for 4 months of 96(yr in question) then moved to FL. Was to get about $50 refund from Ohio, never did. Just forgot about it. Can this be a ping on credit report? How can they collect, methods, ect. if I refuse to pay. Thanks
2007-01-08 03:01:40 · update #1
Your question is not entirely clear on a couple of points. In the year that you moved to Florida did you have income in Ohio? If that is a year that is in collection you may well owe them. If that final year in Ohio had income in both Florida and Ohio you may also owe Ohio. If you paid your Ohio state income tax for the final year that you lived there and they are attempting to collect the following years because they believed you still lived there you have a recourse. Make copies of anything that you can that shows that you lived in Florida that entire year and send it to them. I had a similar situation, but in my case they were trying to collect death tax on me from my wife. They said I died and she failed to pay estate taxes. I talked to them several times and had a difficult time convincing them that one I was alive and two they were looking for someone else with the same name. The point being that the collection people are very aggressive. When you send the proof that you lived in another state I would also send it to the taxing agency for the state of Ohio and complain. Send letter to any body you can think of like the Governor and the Press.
2007-01-08 02:16:58 · answer #1 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It seems that Ohio has a record of your Ohio income, but since you didn't file, it has no record of your Ohio withholding. I don't think this has anything to do with your moving to FL or MO. If Ohio is trying to collect tax on FL or MO income you can easily straighten that out by proving you were not a resident of OH and had no OH income.
Do you have a copy of your 96 federal return? Did you record your Ohio income and have a record of the withholding? To avoid having to pay, you must show that you had a refund coming. You should then file Ohio 1996 but of course you won't get any refund.
You can get a transcript of the IRS records which would show income documents from OH but not the state withholding. So the worst case is that you would file Ohio 1996 with these income amounts and unfortunately pay the tax, since you would have no proof of withholding.
Refusing to pay would be damaging to you.
2007-01-08 18:31:11 · answer #2 · answered by ninasgramma 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Great question! This is something that is troubling and happens at an alarming rate.
The individual states are not regulated by anyone but the State Legislature or Governor.
Even the Feds have a Statute of Limitations in which to keep tax records, but States many times, not. What is really bad is that if you didn't have enough income requiring you to file for a certain year, it can be a pain to prove that too!?
You can appeal the collections with the collector first and then the Attorney General of that State. Most of this has to be done by paper...good luck.
2007-01-08 01:59:29 · answer #3 · answered by Wood Smoke ~ Free2Bme! 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only reason Ohio is after you is because they got a copy of one or more income documents indicating you worked in Ohio. If you do not file a return, a "substitute" return is filed for you using the worst possible scenario (single or married filing separately) with NO deductions for anything. So, if you sold stock while you lived in Ohio, say for $50K in total proceeds, the state has no documents showing that you PAID for the stock (even if you took a loss!). They assume you had $50K in NET income. They want you to PAY THE TAX!
Recommendation: Visit a tax pro who can get access to your records. Then file a return or response to Ohio's demands.
WealthBuilder
Enrolled Agent / Tax Specialist
p.s. there is NO statute of limitations for failing to file a return!
2007-01-08 02:53:51 · answer #4 · answered by WealthBuilder 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are not clear as to the year in question. Did you live in OHIO any during the year in question? In either case, obtain a copy of your Federal return from the IRS if you don't have access to your copy any longer. If you did not live in OH for the year in question, a letter stating so with any kind of proof of your address during that time should be sufficient. You may want to find an Enrolled Agent (professional Tax Preparer with the EA designation) to help out.
2007-01-08 02:12:16 · answer #5 · answered by hdsok 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The states are being very aggressive about this.
Somehow, you have to prove that you resided in Florida for those 6 years and were actually a "resident" there.
Did you change your driver's license to Florida? If not, you may be in trouble.
You are probably going to want to visit a tax professional before they get too busy.
2007-01-08 01:56:12 · answer #6 · answered by Wayne Z 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋