Has anyone used the option on the W-4 where you check "Married but withhold at higher single rate" instead of just "Married"? My accountant told me this is easier than doing all the multiple jobs worksheet calculations for two-income households.

This is exactly why I always recommend dual-income couples be extra careful with their W-4 setup! The "married" filing status assumes your spouse either doesn't work or earns very little, which clearly isn't your situation. With your combined income of around $104,000, you're definitely going to owe taxes. The good news is you still have time to fix this before year-end. I'd suggest having your wife submit a new W-4 immediately using either the "Married but withhold at higher single rate" option (which is simpler) or completing the Two-Earners worksheet for a more precise calculation. You should also consider making an estimated tax payment for Q4 to cover what you'll likely owe, especially if you're concerned about underpayment penalties. The IRS generally requires you to pay 90% of your current year tax liability or 100% of last year's (110% if your prior year AGI was over $150K) to avoid penalties.

I work at a tax prep office and see this ALL THE TIME. Let me tell you, the IRS is slower than molasses but they DO eventually catch up. Last month we had a client who hadn't filed in 8 years and suddenly got notices for ALL eight years at once demanding over $35k including penalties and interest. The worst part? If they had just filed on time they would have owed less than $10k total. The rest was all penalties and interest that could have been avoided.

Your friend is playing with fire. I've seen this exact scenario play out badly for so many people. The IRS has automated systems that cross-reference W-2s with filed returns, so they absolutely know about your friend's unreported income. What typically happens is the IRS works through cases based on dollar amounts and available resources. Your friend might seem like they're "getting away with it" but they're actually just accumulating a larger and larger problem. Each year adds failure-to-file penalties (up to 25% of what's owed), failure-to-pay penalties, and compound interest. I've seen people go 5-7 years thinking they're in the clear, then suddenly get hit with notices for ALL the missing years at once. By then, what might have been a few thousand in actual taxes becomes tens of thousands with penalties and interest. The absolute best thing your friend can do is file those back returns ASAP - preferably before the IRS contacts them. Voluntary compliance almost always results in better treatment than being caught. They should gather all their W-2s and 1099s and either use tax software for back years or find a tax professional who handles prior year returns. Time is not on their side here. Every month they wait just makes it worse.

Just wanted to add my voice to this conversation as someone who literally went through this exact same thing last year! I remember getting my CP05A notice and immediately googling "am I being audited" at like 2am 😅 The good news is that everyone here is absolutely right - it's not an audit at all, just a verification process. Mine took exactly 7 weeks to resolve and I got my full refund plus about $15 in interest. The IRS is basically just making sure that what you reported matches what your employers and banks sent them. During the wait, I found it helpful to remind myself that no news is good news - if there were any actual problems with your return, they would have sent you a different type of notice asking for documentation or corrections. Just hang tight and try not to check your transcript more than once a week (easier said than done, I know!). You'll get through this! 💙

Just got my CP05A last week and came here looking for answers - this thread has been SO helpful! I was literally convinced I was about to get audited or that I'd made some huge mistake on my return. Reading everyone's experiences has really calmed my nerves. It's amazing how something that sounds so official and scary is actually just routine verification. I'm definitely bookmarking this thread to come back to when I start getting anxious about the wait time. Thank you to everyone who shared their stories - you're all lifesavers! 🙏✨

It's a server capacity issue. Happens every year. Try different times. Early morning works best. Late night too. Avoid lunch hours. Weekend mornings are worst. System can't handle peak volume. They never upgrade enough.

I've been dealing with this exact same issue! Been trying to access my tax transcript for a week now and keep getting that "can't be completed" error. It's incredibly frustrating when you're trying to meet deadlines. I tried the early morning suggestion from @Jamal Brown and it actually worked - got in around 4:45am yesterday. Still ridiculous that we have to wake up at ungodly hours just to access a basic government service. Has anyone tried contacting their representatives about this recurring problem? Seems like the IRS needs a serious infrastructure upgrade if this happens every single tax season.

Don't stress fam, we're all in the same boat. These glitches happen all the time with IRS systems

This happens to me at least once a month! Usually it's back up within 24 hours. I've noticed it tends to happen more frequently during tax season when their servers are getting hammered. Try checking again tomorrow morning - that's when mine usually comes back online. Don't panic, your return is still processing in the background even when transcripts show N/A 👍