How Long Should I Wait to Contact IRS?

So far they haven't gone beyond their dates and you have not received the

If you owe nothing, there's no penalty of interest in the long run.

The one to watch out for is the 90-day letter (Statutory Notice of Deficiency) which allows you to contest their statements in tax court.

Chances are it won't come to that. But if you ever get a SNOD I recommend you submit a notice to the small claims division of the Tax Court, something they will tell you about in the SNOD and something any taxpayer is allowed to do. Most such notices are simply protective and they will move to dismiss once they realize what has happened.

So far they missed what you had done ( I recall you did a lump sum social security calculation, properly labeled LSE on your tax return, and the data entry clerk missed it, surprise surprise.) You said that your phone call with IRS (I hope you wrote down the person's name and ID number) resulted in a statement that all will be well with the world even if they do not send you an apology.

In all the times I have dealt with the IRS I cannot ever recall receiving anything resembling a written apology, do don't have high hopes for one here.

I think you already got a pretty good answer from Arthur Kamlet, in response to your previous post on this matter from a few days ago. Write it all down and send it in. I understand from your even earlier post (April 30th) that you are unduly stressed by having to interact with the IRS, but if you want the convenience of a phone call, you are not going to have the security of written correspondence, and vice versa.

-Mark Bole

Thank you all for your advice. The original correction notice says "you need to contact us within 60 days from the date of this letter to request an examination of your return and to retain your rights to appeal our decision". Is this different from the the 90-day letter (Statutory Notice of Deficiency) that you talked about? Sounds that I should just wait a few more days to see whether the refund comes through (as evidence they have made the change), since the May 18 deadline is just the payment due date if I don't contest, and I still have 60 days (unitl around June 27 - the notice date is April 27) to call or write them again. What do you think? Sorry that I keep asking questions, but this is all new to me. I want to make sure I do it right and don't miss any deadlines. Thanks again.

The 60-day notice is just a notice, and is not the nasty SNOD (90- day notice). As Mark said, remain calm, and if you do not hear anything by around June 15 or so, then send a letter describing what happened and asking them to acknowledge the correctness of your position, which they will probably not bother to do. Customer Service could be greatly improved.

I am interested in hearing how this all turns out - keep us posted.

Hello Arthur and Mark - Thank you again. Sounds that I'll have another month to send a letter in writing. I'll keep you posted.