Welcome to another episode of the Dr. Friday show! In this episode, she answers all your questions about the tax filing as well as the following topics:

• Will I Get the Stimulus Check?
• Help Getting Your Taxes Filed
• Is the Stimulus Check Taxable Money?
• Can I Refuse the Stimulus Check?
• Does the IRS Know If My Address Changed?
• Will I Get the Stimulus Check Electronically or Mail?
• SBA Bridge Loans

Transcript

Announcer 0:01
No, no, no, she’s not a medical doctor, but she can share cure your problems or your financial woes. She’s the how-to girl. It’s the Dr. Friday show. If you have a question for Dr. Friday, call her now at 615-737-9986. So here’s your host financial counselor and tax consultant, Dr. Friday.

Dr. Friday 0:30
Good day! I’m Dr. Friday, and the doctor is in the house, and I’m here to take your calls at 615-737-9986. It has been a busy week. Let me tell you. Obviously, April the 15th really did not hold the same impact as it has in the last 25 years of me preparing taxes. So you know we are still preparing taxes, making appointments as soon as everyone is able to get back out and start moving around and doing things. We are seeing clients still right now. If you need Tax Help, or if you’re trying to get things filed, we have quite a few people trying to get their 18th and 19th filed because they know things happen, and you don’t always get your taxes filed on time. But now, with the stimulus check, things have become quite interesting. I do want to put people at ease. I do realize that 80 million people have received stimulus checks. But just as a point of interest, not everybody has received their stimulus check. So you will still probably be getting a stimulus check coming to that direction.

Again, the website, pros, and cons. Maybe some people can share their thoughts on that if they want, but the website is not working wonderfully as far as giving everyone the information they need. So if you’re having some troubles with the website,  I do know it’s up, I do know you can put your banking information in so that you can get your check electronically. Just keep in mind, if you don’t get electronically, it will come through the mail, it’s not lost, it’s not like you’re not going to get it. It will just take a little bit longer for you to get it. So, you know, again, some people really have not had a lot of change during this time. And many people have been living on the same exact income prior to this. So if you were on Social Security, then that’s all you were living off of. This is a bonus check. It’s not changing your lifestyle, and the check will be coming. We just haven’t gotten the date of that. So and some people that are on social security and file taxes may have already received that information, but I don’t think people solely on Social Security have received it. I can be wrong. I have quite a few clients that have not. Alright, why don’t we have Jerry and then we can go to some other calls. Jerry, what can I do for you?

Caller 2:55
Yes, Dr. Friday, thank you for taking my call. I’m calling on behalf of a relative of mine that I’ve always heard that she didn’t make enough money to file. She’s elderly, and she’s in her 80s. She never filed out because she didn’t make enough money to make it worth filing because she didn’t know anything. She has since come down with Alzheimer’s for several years and was so acute that she finally had been admitted to a nursing home. Unfortunately, there were no beds, but she had to go into what they call assisted living. So that was over $65,000 in nursing home costs, plus they had to have private healthcare sitters for another $65,000 in the last year. Can she file for some kind of income credit or whatever puts her severe medical costs?

Dr. Friday 3:50
Well, the only time it really comes into play is if she actually took money out of an IRA or something which was taxable income to pay for this. If all four months were in an after-tax account? The answer is no; there’s no credit and nothing available to those individuals. If it wasn’t a taxable account, that medical might kick in, because there are some taxable deductions for extended care people that are in a place where they can’t take care of themselves at all. That is considered medical, and it’s not considered assisted living in a sense. But it doesn’t sound like in her case, to be honest, Jerry that she had the money in a taxable situation, it was all in an after-tax account?

Caller 4:34
Yeah it was regular money that she had over the years and you know, a CD’s and so forth. I think they finally had to start spending down the IRAs too because she’s going to be penniless pretty soon. I didn’t know she could get anything back on medical expenses for that to be against your taxes you have paid to do that, I guess.

Dr. Friday 4:54
It has to be against taxes either owed. So if she owes money on money, she’s taking out of retirement. accounts or if she owed money on interest because these were in CDs and had taken them out early, whatever. That would be the time to consider her taxes. But if she still has most of her money that they’ve used so far in after-tax accounts or your income is so low, it’s still not hitting taxable. There is no advantage, it would only be the situation if it’s after they took $65,000 out of retirement account, then there would be taxes due and then the medical would help to kick in.

Caller 5:29
So I guess, she might get a little bit not really much.

Dr. Friday 5:34
She wouldn’t have to pay taxes. I mean, the whole point would be to be zero tax do not have to have to pay taxes along with paying all the medical. There’d be no refund unless she ended up paying money in advance, but otherwise, it would really just be so she didn’t have to pay any taxes along with all her medical expenses.

Caller 5:51
All right, thank you so much, I appreciate it.

Dr. Friday 5:54
No worries. Great call. Thanks, Jerry. All right, we are gonna continue on here and see what we have. I know my guy’s busy there. So can we hit Bob? J

Caller 6:09
I think I gave my son some advice on his tax return. He was trying to find out why his stimulus check didn’t receive yet. And then we pulled up his paper copy of his tax return. He made the fatal mistake of checking the box that he was a dependant or someone could claim him as a dependent. Now he did it correctly in 2018. For some reason this year, I think he felt like he had to check some box on that standard deduction. Made a large mistake.

Dr. Friday 6:42
It’s an easy mistake to fix though and it’s a lot of people are making that mistake. Not even a mistake in many of these cases. Up until now, the children have been true dependants, even though they have been living in the home and they’re over the age of 17. In the case of your son, all he needs to file is a 1040 X Like Xerox, and he can just uncheck that box, make a memo on it, not independent of anybody. It will take a while, he’s not going to have money as fast as everybody else, but the money will come, he won’t lose the money. Again, in his case, since we are basing it on 19, I would suggest doing an amended return for him, because I’m assuming you did not claim him as a dependent, correct?

Caller 7:27
Correct. I did want to tell you I pulled the 1040 x form, I have a copy in front of me. I don’t see where an uncheck the box is on the actual form. I’m on page two and I see on line 24, It talks about dependents and exemptions. Is that where I would have to change it because it doesn’t offer that same checkbox as the original tax return does.

Dr. Friday 7:49
So what you’re going to want to do is on the 1040 X, you’re going to have basically a zero change situation. How much money did he make? Less than 12, more than 12?

Caller 8:01
More than 12. 16,000.

Dr. Friday 8:05
Okay, so I would go in and uncheck the boxes, that dependent is not going to have any effect under the explanation section or the 1040 X, you’re going to put air in clicking the button that said “I was a dependent on somebody else.” Behind that, you’re going to attach a new tax return, a regular 1040 with the box unchecked. So you’re going to do a 1040 X the correct way, and then a 1040 X on top of it, and put the two together.

Caller 8:39
Okay, sounds great.

Dr. Friday 8:41
Okay, all right. Okay, no problem. Thank you. I appreciate your call, Bob. All right. Let’s keep moving along here. We’ve got is it Charlotte? Submitting a stimulus.

Caller 8:53
It’s great to talk to you, Doctor.

Dr. Friday 8:57
Thank you very much. What can I do for you, sweetie?

Caller 9:00
Well, I’m 71 years old. For the last quite a few years, I have not had to fill out income tax forms because they said that there wasn’t enough money or because it’s only Social Security, I get a small pension. My problem is that I was told by a friend of mine that she saw something for the channel 5 person, he’s a troubleshooter, he mentioned about with people like us would have to get an IRS Form. So I went to the library, and they brought out the form to me, because of the virus and whatnot, you know, they couldn’t let us go in and it was a senior form. I don’t know if you just address that with somebody but I don’t know the number on it.

Dr. Friday 10:04
Okay. The 1040-SR is only for people that are required to file. There is a place on the IRS website for non-filers and really that is only for individuals with dependants. You are automatically in the system you do not require I’m not too sure who was telling you this because individuals that are on Social Security alone are already in the system that also is people with supplemental, disability and railroad. All of you are already in the system. You will be getting your checks. They haven’t come out yet.

Caller 10:41
Excuse me for saying it that proof I spent $11 and change for you know [inaudible] I had it registered. So I was waiting for the sign to come back. I had a feeling we didn’t have to but my friend and I have both and calling our banks and we haven’t received it yet.

Dr. Friday 11:06
That’s because social security beneficiaries have not yet been sent out. Again, keep in mind that Social Security individuals that were living solely on Social Security did not have the initial stimulus situation you didn’t lose income. This is an extra check for you. They’re going to be sending them out at the end, or the very first week of May is my understanding. Because they didn’t get hit as hard as individuals that may maybe have children or lost their jobs right? So you’re in the distribution, you will be getting it I’ve had quite a few phone calls. I don’t know the exact date. No one tells me that information. But I will tell you, you will be getting it. It may be you. I know they usually do what the last Wednesday of every month? When Social Security comes or less third Wednesday, something like that? Do you know when what they did so security normally comes? When do you get your check normally from social security?

Caller 12:03
It’s the second Wednesday of the month and I don’t want you to feel that I’m greedy, doctor, but I had a leak. And as a result, my electric bill was a huge bill.

Dr. Friday 12:21
Oh, sure, Charlotte. No sound that way at all. I’m sorry. No, I can’t imagine living solely off Social Securely Charlotte. So I did not want you to take that wrong. All I meant was, I think the IRS they’ve got 160 million people to get checks to add something like that. And I think they’re trying to take them in groups. I’ve heard different things, social security numbers, just starting with one set going through. I have had people that have children, several of them have already received their stimulus so maybe they’re pulling returns with children first. I did not mean that I’m sorry. If that’s we took it I’m very sorry. No, this is a hard time for everyone and I’m sure the check will definitely be used to help make things better for you or anyone else in your situation.

Caller 13:06
I’m sure that people with the tornadoes twice in Tennessee has been hit and with the virus now. You know, there are things that are really more important.

Dr. Friday 13:20
Well, right now everyone is needing. It is a tough time out there right this second. So everyone’s probably needing this money more than in a normal situation. Hopefully, those checks will start coming out. But I have about five clients I know that living solely off social security that every year they call me and make sure they don’t have to file a tax return, and they’ve not yet received it. So I am making an educated guess here that, Charlotte. If anyone’s listening that solely gets social security if you could call in and let us know if you’ve received it or not because right now I’m working with the idea that people that don’t file tax returns have not yet received checks. And that’s just from my experience of being on the radio and stuff, but if that’s changed, let us know because there is a lot of people waiting for checks. Thank you, Charlotte. I appreciate your phone call really do.

Caller 14:09
Thank you for helping.

Dr. Friday 14:10
No problem. Hey, James, what can I do for you? One second here. There we go I’m a little fast. James, what can I do for you?

Caller 14:19
Good afternoon. I had a quick question. I wanted to know, oddly enough, I actually I have gotten my stimulus check. I wanted to know how this will play out in my 2020 taxes in the sense that I’ve read some stuff that talks about that maybe this is only, I don’t want to call it a deferment but, somehow connected to my 2020 taxes and maybe this isn’t a gift that I’m not going to have to deal with or repay later.

Dr. Friday 14:49
You’re afraid to gift them may not keep giving. Okay, so every meeting I’ve been on with the IRS with exception of individuals that may be in 2019. Let’s just say your income in 2019, if you’re single, $75,000 or less. And in 2020, it’s the same thing, you’re not going to have any situation. It’s going to be individuals that maybe they’re getting it on their 2018 haven’t filed 19. But when 19 comes, those individuals actually made more than what they did in 18. So maybe they don’t have the stimulus. Those will be the individuals that may be looking at us like payback that has been argued back and forth. But any individual that made $75,000 or less in 19 or 150,000, as a married couple, you will have no payback. This is a gift that will keep giving you will not have to worry about it on your 2020 taxes as a taxable income.

Caller 15:45
Well, I think I may fall into that category is my concern.

Dr. Friday 15:49
Yeah, well, that is a concern of mine. No, go ahead. Go ahead.

Caller 15:55
I did have a rise in my 2019 taxes. I do believe I filed my taxes about a week ago. I found my taxes two weeks ago, I got my stimulus check about a week ago. So my it based on how much it was, I do believe it was based off my 2018 taxes. I don’t think they would have turned that all around that quickly. So I am kind of worried because the amount that I should have gotten because I had about a $20,000 increase in 2018 versus 2019 adjusted gross income. I’m afraid that it will be a payback. So I do think that I am going to end up having to pay some of this back and it’s not a gift.

Dr. Friday 16:42
Right. If you are one of those individuals that in 2018, you made 75,000 but in 2019, you made 100,000 they gave it to you based on 2018, for example, in 2019. There are conversations that there is gonna be a five year no interest payment-back so much every year. You know, I don’t know. It probably depends on the recovery and what they’re going to do on those situations. We’ve seen somewhere they may just say if was good enough on the 18 or 19 we’re going to let it slide I’ve had conversations like that. I would be prepared. I tell my clients be prepared to pay it back because there isn’t anything out there telling us the exact rules yet James, to be quite honest with you.

Caller 17:28
So sounds like I better hold on to this and may not go spend it so quickly because I’m probably gonna, there is a possibility I’m playing this bad boy back.

Dr. Friday 17:35
There is that possibility, if you’re in the situation that sounds like, there is a very good possibility. Now they may give you five years to pay it back in and you may choose to do it or you may be one that says you know what, I don’t want to own the government anything. Here’s your money back. Thank you very much and it’s over with, but not a lot of help yet because I haven’t gotten enough information yet to say if that happens, and I have a lot of weird scenarios from people getting divorced in that year, one person claims kids even one person claims kids odd. There’s a lot of different situations. So we’ll have to wing a little of this and just work on what we can do but appreciate the phone call. Thank you very much. We’re going to take a quick break here we come back. We’re going to hit Gene and Steve and a couple of the calls coming through. If you want to join the show. 615-737-9986 we’re going to be right back with the Dr. Friday show.

Alrighty, we are back! I have got awesome news for James, he can go shopping. We were just talking. I have a senior stakeholder liaison for the internal Revenue Service. She is awesome, Anna Falkenstein is her name just in case anyone would like to know, she is awesome. I have gotten some information and there is no provision in the law requiring repayment of this money. So no matter if the IRS makes a mistake, your child turns 17, there was an error, whatever, according to this particular law that was passed, there is no provision in the law requiring any payback of this money. So if the IRS has sent you $1 amount that is incorrect. Now, as long as it’s not, I’m assuming thousands of dollars like one person I heard something on Facebook or something where someone had received like a million dollars instead of $1,000 or something ridiculous. I’m pretty sure that would be a problem. But James, we talked a little earlier. He brought up a great question and Anna Falkenstein, again, a senior stakeholder liaison for the Internal Revenue Service. Again, there is no provision in the law require repayment of this money so you can go and pay off debt, go spend the money, whatever you need to do. All right, we’ve got Gene has been holding quite a long time, then we’ll hit Steve. Hey Gene, what can I do for you?

Caller 20:15
Hey, how are you Doctor Friday? My wife has a 401k with a previous employer, and her current employer doesn’t offer a 401k. So I was curious about what her options were for moving that money and creating an account she can keep contributing.

Dr. Friday 20:33
So she can convert her 401k to an IRA, and then she can also contribute, now won’t be as much as her cross pass person was probably allowing her to contribute. But as individuals, you’re limited since she’s not self-employed. So her best bet would be to convert it to an IRA and then she can start contributing up to depending on her age $6-7,000 a year at least contribute to that deferred. Again, it depends on your income. And maybe that’s better to leave that one. And if you’re if your incomes under $100,000, as a married couple, you might want to think of a Roth IRA. I’m not a financial planner, but that would be what I would do personally.

Caller 21:13
So what would the tax implications be if she converted that one, which is pre-tax to a rock?

Dr. Friday 21:19
That would be pretty high, depending again, on your income bracket, right? So if you guys are making 100,000, everything above that would be at 22% in the conversion rate or higher depending on how much is in her 401k. I would probably sit down with your tax person before I made that. If right now one person’s not working and maybe your incomes lower than normal. You know, it’s something to think about, but you have to take the whole year into account and hopefully, people will be back to work relatively soon. So I probably would do a conversion if you are making decent money. I mean, as I said, if you guys are making 100,000 jointly, I would probably not. If if you’re making less than that you might be able to convert difference every year at 12%, which could be a smart idea.

Caller 22:04
Okay, and for the Roth, where would I start to look for one of those?

Dr. Friday 22:09
Any bank is the first place I would start. I mean, obviously, TD Ameritrade. You know, all the major financial places as well would have Roth IRAs.

Caller 22:19
Okay. Thank you for your help.

Dr. Friday 22:21
I appreciate your call. Thanks. Let’s go to Steve in the boro. Hello, Steve, what’s happening?

Caller 22:29
How are you doing Dr. Friday? I appreciate your show. My question is similar to one you had earlier. I have an 18-old- son who is still a high school senior. I declared him as a dependent on my tax return, but he made like $18,000 last year and we filed his tax return this year, of course, he had to pay some taxes. But is he just out of luck? I think I told him well, I’ll give you the $500 credit that I get for you on my tax return and then found out because he was over 17 that I would not get the $500 credit for him. But since he made a pretty good amount of money for that age child, is he just kind of stuck in a no man’s land where he won’t get $500 on my tax returns, and he also won’t get $1200 because he was a taxpayer?

Dr. Friday 23:26
Well, I don’t know what kind of income you make Steve, but if you’re making a lot of money, I mean, maybe, 150-200,000, then 500 would go away. But if you’re not making that kind of money, you making more, you know, 150,000, then you would get the $500 you wouldn’t get the $2000 when he was 16, you got $2,000 for him. Then when he turned 17, it went down to $500 and it will stay $500 theoretically for the rest of his life if he decides never to leave home. So you would get the $500. Now the question is, in those scenarios, a child that is 17 I have quite a few clients that are choosing not to claim and you can theoretically amend your taxes, you know, not claim him and he can claim himself and file his own taxes if he has earnings.

Caller 24:15
Okay, so in reality, I’m married and I had an adjusted income of $123,000 last year. But I do have a big long tax return, I think it was 68 pages this year because I have rental properties, things like that. So in reality, I did get $500 for him off of my taxes this year since I did take him as a dependent that’s what you’re telling me?

Dr. Friday 24:47
That’s what I’m telling you. In all honesty, it sounds like he was truly still a legitimate dependent, okay? I mean, I’m just saying in the real world, 17-year-olds are often dependents even 18-year-olds goodness gracious all the way up through college at times. I know I was for my parents, they wanted me to go to school. So you know, but I know a lot of people. So yes, the $500 should be showing up on the front page of your 1040. But other than that, he would get $1200 on the other side of that conversation, so you’d have to float and see which way you want to go. But you would have gotten the $500 Steve.

Caller 25:24
Okay. All right. Thank you very much. That makes me feel a little bit better.

Dr. Friday 25:27
Thank you so much. All right. Let’s see who is next. I guess it is Lee. Hey, Lee. What can I do for you?

Caller 25:37
Hey Dr. Friday. I’m one of your entrepreneur friends here in Lewisburg. I wanted to check with you, It says I was busy the last week or two and didn’t get a chance to put in that application for the small business people. It looks like it’s all been dried up. So I was wondering what guidance you might give as far as what to do between now and the time they approve Funding?

Dr. Friday 26:01
Yes. So my banker along with many other ones I’ve heard they say that this time they’re not taking additional applications. We’re all watching the news trying to find out if additional if another phase of PPP money will be coming out. I guess the answer to your question is, you could still, my understanding, there are still some funds through the SBA under the bridge loans, which is the one that’s the $10,000 that can be used to keep your business afloat. I think it’s up to 25 or something thousand. That’s the only place I can suggest. The nice thing about the SBA between you and me is the interest rate, right? I mean, they’re offering ones and twos where you go to the bank, they’re offering fours and fives or threes and fours at least. So you know, it’s not easy, I don’t have a good answer. I’m not too sure who got that money. I can actually tell you, I have two clients that successfully got the money out of about 100 and almost 200 clients that I know that applied. So, you know, that’s in my little world here that I live in. So I’m not too sure if that’s the same statistics across the world, but I mean, they gave out to a $2 trillion. So I’m not sure where that money went lead. So answer to your question. At this point, try to go to SBA.gov and maybe put in a bridge loan and just see if you can get that to help float and that money at first 10 would be free, or give it as a grant, I should say, as long as you meet their criteria.

Caller 27:40
Right. Changing gears just a little bit as far as that stimulus payment. I’m still getting “status not available” when I check on mine there. Would any kind of ongoing dispute or pass tax debt we’re working on with the IRS disqualify a shred as far as you know, are they just send it out to everybody automatically?

Dr. Friday 28:00
Automatically everybody. As long as you have an 18 or 19, tax return filed, you will automatically get payment and they cannot apply. Even if you’re in the middle of an offer and compromise or payment plan. None of that can stop these checks from coming to the individuals.

Caller 28:19
From what I understand there, we’ve used our bank account to make payments to the IRS but not receive any kind of refunds. So they’re saying that that doesn’t count. We have to put in our information, but it won’t let us get to a screen to do that, because it’s not available.

Dr. Friday 28:34
I hear you and that seems to be a very common error on the website. Again, I don’t know the answer to that because most of us don’t get refunds. So there’s no way for us to put our bank in and we have paid them the other way. So I don’t know the answer. All I can say is keep trying otherwise you will get the check and it will be through the mail. I mean, you will get it it’s just going to be through the mail.

Caller 29:01
Okay, sounds good. Thanks.

Dr. Friday 29:03
Thank you appreciate it very much. All right, let’s go on up to Vic who’s been waiting for quite a while. Hey, Vic, what can I do for you?

Caller 29:10
Yes, ma’am. How are you?

Dr. Friday 29:12
I am doing awesome.

Caller 29:14
Here’s my situation. My son, he has got in his court order parenting plan and he has two children he claims the older the daughter. His ex-wife has claimed her so we kicked back when he tried to claim her this year. What do I need to file to submit the return?

Dr. Friday 29:46
Vic, let me ask you one thing. Is he entitled to claiming that daughter? Did the ex-wife just claim them because she could?

Caller 29:54
Why she claimed or because I guess she thought she could.

Dr. Friday 30:00
So my personal opinion is your son needs to mail in the tax return with the daughter’s name on it. It’s going to hold things up a little bit. I always hate this kind of thing because this happens a lot to be quite honest. I mean, it’s up to him if he wants to take the fight on or not. But if he mails it in, they’re going to come back and then he’ll be able to justify. Now, this is a child live with him or does he just claim them because?

Caller 30:28
Notice she does not. She lives with a mother but you know, the court ordered there’s two kids like I said, he claims the older one, and she claims the young one every year.

Dr. Friday 30:40
I got it. Well, he would have a tough time with the IRS thing because he doesn’t actually meet the IRS standards have a true dependence. Now they didn’t accept it, so you wouldn’t have to amend the return. You should just take the child’s name off and resubmit.

Caller 30:56
Well, he did. He put he filed, he’s already filed a return except to hit but he kicked her out because she’s already been claimed. So basically she the return that he would have got back for him.

Dr. Friday 31:17
So the ex-wife’s mad at him because she couldn’t claim the daughter that she wanted to claim.

Caller 31:22
Right.

Dr. Friday 31:22
Well, then, you know, she needs to amend. It sounds like he has the right to the child based on the divorce papers, so she needs to amend her return. He can amend it, he can go back to a 1040 X, remove the child from his return. And in about six to eight months that should actually post. By that point, the ex-wife will be killing him because it will take that long to happen right now.

Caller 31:45
I don’t think she’s going to amend.

Dr. Friday 31:50
Well, she’s the one that isn’t. He’s already filed his and the IRS accepted his. So for her to actually get it accepted, she would have to take the daughter off her return to do it.

Caller 32:02
Okay, but like I said she’s not gonna do that. [Inaudible] return and I was told I have a parenting plan if I had the parenting plan in a filed return, you could send it that way.

Dr. Friday 32:18
You can do a 1040 X and file it and remove the child from his tax return. Which is what you’re saying you’re going to need to do you might need to call someone.

Caller 32:27
Well, actually he did not claim her because when he kicked it out he just claimed himself is what I’m saying.

Dr. Friday 32:35
I’m a little confused. Vic, I think you’ll have to call me this is probably too confusing for the radio because at one minute you said he filed it and got accepted. And she was trying to file the daughter and it wasn’t.

Caller 32:47
After he put in the daughter’s income tax. I mean the social security number was rejected on the daughter, so he just went ahead filed individually.

Dr. Friday 32:57
I don’t think if he’s trying to still claim the daughter, I don’t think he’ll win with the IRS because the daughter does not live with him and part of the law says you have to have the daughter live with you six months and one day.

Caller 33:08
Even though it’s court reporting?

Dr. Friday 33:09
Doesn’t make a difference. Court Reporting doesn’t change anything. That’s a legal issue. The IRS does not apply by that.

Caller 33:16
Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Dr. Friday 33:17
Perfect. Thank you. We’ve got to take I’m sorry, another break. I’m hoping Bob, John and Steve can hold through that break. Then we’ll get to you if you want to join us. 615-737-9986 we’re going to be right back.

All righty, we are back here live in the studio. He’s going back and forth. Okay, let’s go right to the phones. We have Steve that was first then Bob and john. So let’s try, they’ve all been on hold a long time. Hey, Steve, thanks for holding What can I do for you?

Caller 34:03
Did you say Keith?

Dr. Friday 34:04
Yes, Keith, it works. Whoever’s talking right now I can hear you sorry. I have a different name in here. Hey Keith.

Caller 34:11
Good afternoon. I’m one who will receive the stimulus check in the mail and it isn’t that I couldn’t use the money, but for personal reasons, I don’t agree with it and I’m wondering what’s the best way to refuse it or send it back and be sure that I’m not taxed for it?

Dr. Friday 34:29
Well, they did pass the law says there’s absolutely no way in the law that says is not taxed there’s no way for them to make it taxable money. Just let you know, the I actually have a person that works with the IRS and it came back and said that. I don’t know how you can refuse it. I suppose you could turn around and return the check. I just don’t know what would happen. If they would just keep trying to send it to you or credit your account or whatever. IRS is renowned for not really taking money back even when you’re supposed to take it back. I’m not sure, I’m not one that’s actually going to receive the stimulus. So I’m not sure exactly how to return it to be honest with you, Steve. Have some agreement on some of that with you. But that being said, you could certainly return the check. If they can’t get it to you, if they don’t cash it sooner or later, within three years, it will become null and void. That’s about all I can tell you.

Caller 35:22
Excellent. Thank you.

Dr. Friday 35:23
All right, buddy. Thank you. Appreciate you waiting. All right. Let’s go right to ball Bob in Rock Vale. What can I do for you hear that Southern thing? Rock Vale?

Caller 35:31
Hey, thanks for taking the call. I received two payments. I think that one of them is for my wife. But she passed away. I didn’t know what to do about that, because I don’t think that I’m supposed to have the two payments. What do I do about it?

Dr. Friday 35:55
When did your wife pass away?

Caller 35:58
In June of last year.

Dr. Friday 36:00
Then you’re entitled to it. Yes. Anyone that was alive in 19 no matter if it was just the first day, then you know, you are entitled. It is part of her estate, and it’s not taxable to you.

Caller 36:14
So, just.

Dr. Friday 36:15
So just spend it, do it, invest it, whatever makes it better for you, sir.

Caller 36:21
And you said that these are not taxable dollars?

Dr. Friday 36:25
Yes, sir. These are not taxable dollars.

Caller 36:28
Okay. Thank you very much. Can I ask one more question?

Dr. Friday 36:34
Yes, sir.

Caller 36:37
I understand that I was supposed to do my taxes as married filing jointly, right?

Dr. Friday 36:45
For 2019. Yes, sir.

Caller 36:49
Okay, all right. So just keep filing like hadn’t been before. Because she was on Social Security and just act as if every thinking the same? Correct? There is a there’s a deceased portion of that in the 1040, right?

Dr. Friday 37:10
Yes, sir. Yeah, there’s a place that you’ll put her date of passing. So that way at the very top it locks if you use the electronic one, they’ll print out at the top of the report. So they know to turn off her Social Security. I mean, they already know you’ve stopped her Social Security benefits, etc, etc. But yes, you are correct, sir. There is a place for it.

Caller 37:27
Okay. Well, thanks very much, doctor.

Dr. Friday 37:29
Yes, sir. Sorry about your loss. All right. I think maybe if we can do it quickly, let’s go ahead and see if we get hit Johnny real quick because we have to make another quick break here. Hey, Johnny.

Caller 37:41
Hey, can you hear me?

Dr. Friday 37:50
I can hear you. What can I do for you real quick?

Caller 37:52
Okay, we amended this like previous callers when you check the stimulus check I get that statement. We got a letter from the IRS on the 2018 taxes where we didn’t pay enough so they corrected return. And my accountant amended return, is that gonna affect the check?

Dr. Friday 38:19
No, not unless it kicks you over the 150 since you were married?

Caller 38:25
No. I just recently like two days ago filed 2019 returns.

Dr. Friday 38:34
Either way, then you have the right information. Either way they’ll have the right information but the amended return should not hold up your 2018 stimulus or 19 but if you fall 19 that will bypass the 18 anyways.

Caller 38:52
Okay, even though I got the letter from the IRS, saying they corrected return and I owed them?

Dr. Friday 39:01
Yes, and they won’t keep the money. No they cannot pay IRS debt with the stimulus

Caller 39:07
All right, that’s all I need to know. Thank you, sweetheart.

Dr. Friday 39:09
Perfect all right we’re gonna take one more quick break here when Gina come we’ll come back and get Gina and a few other phone calls. Let’s see if I get back on the time clock we’re gonna be right back with the doctor Friday show.

We are back live in the studio. Call at 615-737-9986. Let’s go right to the phone where Gina from the boro. Hello sweetheart.

Caller 39:53
Hi. To make a long story short, I’m single other and I don’t make a whole lot of money. So I have an IRA that every year I do get a little bit out of it. I do report it always to my tax on my tax returns. I’ve known TurboTax for the last three or four years. I always have a guaranteed refund [inaudible]. So I got a love letter from the IRS for 2018 that said that I did not report my income that I withdrew from my IRA. So I called the Internet people and they went over me and said that for some, it wasn’t put the information from a Trust Company was on there, but the amount that I withdrew was never on there. And so they’re saying that it was a faulty program or something with TurboTax. And so they said they’re not affiliated with TurboTax. And so the only thing they can do is maybe help me get the penalties and stuff. You know from all that stuff. So my question is, and I do know that I owe it because they, it was not put on there. I need somebody to help me with this because all this has happened with the COVID-19. And I can’t get a hold of the IRS. So I just relieved them because I told them I don’t want anything to do with them because they are false advertising?

Dr. Friday 41:28
I hear those stories a lot Gina, you’ll hear that you’ll be audit-proof but when they actually do it they claim it as human error and won’t cover it. At this point, yes you are right, the IRS is closed. There are basically no numbers, and even as a tax preparer, we have a prepare-line, that line is closed. I can’t even call an attorney right this second, their line is closed. So we are all frozen. What I’m telling individuals to do is agree with it. If I was you, I would basically say, “I agree with this, but I’m requesting you to please consider waiving all penalties for this praticular situation. I’m sorry I missed it, I’ve always done this, I’m a single mom and right now is a difficult time.” Whatever you want to put in there, it doesn’t have to be really wordy or too mushy. It just has to be mushy enough for to know you’ve always been a good tax-payer, and everyone is entitled to makes mistakes. Even the IRS knows that.

So my suggestion would be to return that letter. You may even get more than one love letter, unfortunately. One may say they’ve accepted your mistake, or you may have to send that letter of explanantion of waiver again. I don’t know how the mail is working right now. But I would certify this because that letter you have has a deadline. So you need to respond by a certain time. So consider priority mail and tracking, whatever you want to send to them, so that way in 30 days hopefully when we’re back to work, you can call them and have proof that you complied to their expectations. That’s what I’m telling people, even myself, I don’t have any magical way, we’re just doing a lot of certified letters just to let them know we weren’t just sitting here waiting, we did our best in communicating. I don’t think It’s going to be a problem honestly, I think the revenue is the IRS is just as frustrated as we are.

Caller 43:40
Okay, so just do that and see if I can work something out with them? I can go ahead and start sending in some money in with it.

Dr. Friday 43:49
Absolutely, If you have some money to throw back at it, go ahead and send it, the address is on there. Again, you may get a letter saying they’ve accepted it and it includes the penalty. Just remember If you have a payment plan, they can remove those penalties from that payment plan. It’s not a loss, even if they’ve accepted that you’ve made a mistake. So don’t give up on the penalties just because they haven’t accepted the first time.

Caller 44:15
Okay, all right. I’ll get right on that. Alright, thank you so much.

Dr. Friday 44:21
No problem. All right, really quickly. I think we’ve got enough time for Danny. One minute and thirty seconds Danny, what you’ve got?

Caller 44:30
I’ll make it quick. My wife and I sold a house in December. We had our taxes filed electronically this year with a new address. Does the IRS automatically change our address via that new electronic filing? And will the stimulus check go automatically into the same account due to the electronic filing?

Dr. Friday 44:49
If you had a refund Daniel automatically go there. Your address should get updated at the time they accepted the new 2019 filing.

Caller 44:58
Okay, and since my wife does not work, does she also get the 1200 dollar stimulus as well as myself?

Dr. Friday 45:05
Yes, as long as you’re married income is less than 150,000.

Caller 45:09
Okay, that’s my question. Thank you so much.

Dr. Friday 45:12
Thanks, Danny, thank you very much. All right. We got about 30 seconds left. If you need our help, you can reach me Friday at drfriday.com my phone number 615-367-0819. I hope all of you are staying safe. If you need help with taxes, we are open so we can help you get your taxes or if you just need to get filed. Again, just keep trying the irs.gov as far as being able to put your banking information or anything else in. Alright, hope that helps for you if you have anything else 615-367-0819 my direct number. Talk to you later.