Live data from Hacker News

IRS says Microsoft owes an additional $29B in back taxes

cnbc.com

1–10 of 36 posts

Re: IRS says Microsoft owes an additional $29B in back taxes

#2
When you are a top 10 company, will the IRS converse & let you know why they think you owe what they say you do? Or is it like the rest of us plebes where we only ever guess why their numbers are different & what fines we might have been dinged by?

Re: IRS says Microsoft owes an additional $29B in back taxes

#3

When you are a top 10 company, will the IRS converse & let you know why they think you owe what they say you do? Or is it like the rest of us plebes where we only ever guess why their numbers are different & what fines we might have been dinged by?

Even the plebs can talk with the IRS. They actually have call centers & dispute processes. The key factor is that most of us plebs don't have the time, knowledge, energy or willingness to go through the process.

Microsoft will hire some lawyers/accounts (or already has inhouse) to handle it.

Re: IRS says Microsoft owes an additional $29B in back taxes

#4

When you are a top 10 company, will the IRS converse & let you know why they think you owe what they say you do? Or is it like the rest of us plebes where we only ever guess why their numbers are different & what fines we might have been dinged by?

> like the rest of us plebes where we only ever guess why their numbers are different & what fines we might have been dinged by?

That is not true. The IRS sends letters through U.S. mail when they propose a change to the return you filed, and whether there is a refund or additional balance due, they indicate what numbers differ and what penalties, if any, were applied.

You can then either accept the change, or disagree and reply with your position on the matter.

I've seen dozens of such letters over the years (both my own and others).

Re: IRS says Microsoft owes an additional $29B in back taxes

#5

When you are a top 10 company, will the IRS converse & let you know why they think you owe what they say you do? Or is it like the rest of us plebes where we only ever guess why their numbers are different & what fines we might have been dinged by?

The IRS will let you know what they think you owe. They will tell you why. And, AFAIK, tends to waive fines if the mistake was honest and quickly corrected.

Re: IRS says Microsoft owes an additional $29B in back taxes

#6

When you are a top 10 company, will the IRS converse & let you know why they think you owe what they say you do? Or is it like the rest of us plebes where we only ever guess why their numbers are different & what fines we might have been dinged by?

> like the rest of us plebes where we only ever guess why their numbers are different & what fines we might have been dinged by? That is not true. The IRS sends letters through U.S. mail when they propose a change to the return you filed, and whether there is a refund or additional balance due, they indicate what numbers differ and what penalties, if any, were applied. You can then either accept the change, or disagr…

I've seen a bunch of such letters, thankfully with mostly small adjustments and most mysterious to me often giving me some money back.

But I've never felt like I've had any clue why things were adjusted or what issues there were.

I'm probably way off base & things aren't actually so bad, but I feel like I get a lot of sympathetic "me too"'s about this in social circles. Maybe a good number of people are just holding their tongues & actually understand & learn from their errors over time, but I don't feel like my tax filing skills have ever improved.

Re: IRS says Microsoft owes an additional $29B in back taxes

#7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> like the rest of us plebes where we only ever guess why their numbers are different & what fines we might have been dinged by? That is not true. The IRS sends letters through U.S. mail when they propose a change to the return you filed, and whether there is a refund or additional balance due, they indicate what numbers differ and what penalties, if any, were applied. You can then either accept the change, or disagr…

I've seen a bunch of such letters, thankfully with mostly small adjustments and most mysterious to me often giving me some money back. But I've never felt like I've had any clue why things were adjusted or what issues there were. I'm probably way off base & things aren't actually so bad, but I feel like I get a lot of sympathetic "me too"'s about this in social circles. Maybe a good number of people are just holding…

Just got a letter from the irs explaining the problem. We just called our CPA and they did their due diligence. In this case it was our error. The last time it was the IRS’ error. Both times it was very clear what the problem was.

If your taxes are more complex then expect more confusion. But at that point you should probably hire a CPA

Re: IRS says Microsoft owes an additional $29B in back taxes

#8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> like the rest of us plebes where we only ever guess why their numbers are different & what fines we might have been dinged by? That is not true. The IRS sends letters through U.S. mail when they propose a change to the return you filed, and whether there is a refund or additional balance due, they indicate what numbers differ and what penalties, if any, were applied. You can then either accept the change, or disagr…

I've seen a bunch of such letters, thankfully with mostly small adjustments and most mysterious to me often giving me some money back. But I've never felt like I've had any clue why things were adjusted or what issues there were. I'm probably way off base & things aren't actually so bad, but I feel like I get a lot of sympathetic "me too"'s about this in social circles. Maybe a good number of people are just holding…

How many people actually read the letter?

Re: IRS says Microsoft owes an additional $29B in back taxes

#9

When you are a top 10 company, will the IRS converse & let you know why they think you owe what they say you do? Or is it like the rest of us plebes where we only ever guess why their numbers are different & what fines we might have been dinged by?

Yes, there are special teams for these huge companies because their tax affairs are so complicated.

Typically these very large orgs will also have dedicated relationship managers.

Re: IRS says Microsoft owes an additional $29B in back taxes

#10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen a bunch of such letters, thankfully with mostly small adjustments and most mysterious to me often giving me some money back. But I've never felt like I've had any clue why things were adjusted or what issues there were. I'm probably way off base & things aren't actually so bad, but I feel like I get a lot of sympathetic "me too"'s about this in social circles. Maybe a good number of people are just holding…

How many people actually read the letter?

If you get a letter from the IRS you would be wise to read it.
Post reply on HN