Where's my Interest at on my Tax Returns IRS? Uncle Sam's holding out on us!?

Question

I just got my Tax Returns and I was just thinking about how 2 years ago i owed the IRS money for something that I screwed up on my Taxes. It took the IRS 2 years before they notified me stating that I screwed up on my taxes and that I owed them a certain amount of money with interest.

Now I ask the questions...Mr. IRS where is my interest at for when you held my money all year? The IRS holds our money all year and at the end of the year they usually owe you money if you claim 0 or whatever. I am just interesting into finding out why we owe them interest if we don't pay them on time. But when they owe us money they hold it all year and don't pay us a penny interest?

Answer 1

They do pay interest, but not on the current year, only if they hold a return for more than one year. Besides you pay that over the course of the year and you owe at least some of it, so it would be nearly impossible to figure out the exact interest. Plus, the interest would be much less than you think. Look at the statements on your savings account.

Also, instead of claiming 0 why don't you claim two. It's not the IRS's fault you put the wrong number on your W-4 and pay too much taxes each year. The IRS is not even responsible for your withholding, it's the company you work for. That's what we call operator error.

Answer 2

You voluntarily give them the extra money by claiming 0 exemptions, so you get nothing extra. Take time to figure out the actual number of exemptions you should claim so you come as close to breaking even as possible.

Answer 3

If you were to overpay you Visa bill $5, do you think they would pay you interest?

Same with the government. Adjust your withholdings if you don't like it.

Answer 4

Because they're the IRS and they suck.