What if you start an installment agreement but then stop making payments? Is that considered willful at that point? Asking because I missed 2 payments during COVID and am worried.

Temporarily missing payments due to financial hardship, especially during extraordinary circumstances like COVID, generally wouldn't rise to the level of criminal willfulness. The IRS recognizes that financial situations change. If you missed payments due to genuine inability to pay, you should contact the IRS to explain your situation and potentially modify your installment agreement. Willfulness typically requires a pattern of deliberate avoidance despite having the ability to pay. The fact that you're concerned and wanting to get back on track shows good faith, which is the opposite of the willful intent required for criminal charges.

Self-employed people do get audited more often because there's more opportunity for under-reporting income or claiming inappropriate deductions. W-2 income is automatically reported to the IRS by employers, but self-employment income has fewer automatic verification systems. That said, the audit rate for everyone has dropped significantly in recent years due to IRS budget constraints.

What about restaurants that had to switch to takeout only? We had about 40% of our normal business volume but kept all staff on. Does that count as partial suspension?

Yes, restaurants that were forced to close their dining rooms and switch to takeout-only would generally qualify under the partial suspension test. That's a clear case where government orders directly limited your normal operations in a significant way. The key is documenting exactly how these restrictions impacted your business. Keep copies of the local/state orders that required the closure of your dining room, notes about dates these were in effect, and evidence of how it affected your operations (like showing you normally had dine-in service before the pandemic). The IRS will be looking closely at these claims, so having good documentation is crucial. The switch from dine-in to takeout-only is actually one of the examples the IRS itself has used of qualifying partial suspension.

Filed ours in November last year, just got the refund last week. So about 8 months total wait time. IRS is super backed up with these claims.

We filed in December and got our first quarter payment in June, still waiting on Q2 and Q3. No rhyme or reason to the order they're processing them.

I double-checked and I'm definitely itemizing both years. My mortgage interest, property taxes, and charitable contributions put me well above the standard deduction. But you've got me wondering about the marginal rates - I didn't consider that the brackets shift each year. How much did they adjust for 2023?

The tax brackets for 2023 were adjusted upward by about 7% for inflation. For example, the 22% bracket started at $44,725 for single filers in 2023, up from $41,775 in 2022. This means you need to earn more in 2023 to reach the same tax bracket as 2022. Another factor to consider is that your withholding decreased more than your income did percentage-wise. So even though your tax liability may have gone down due to lower income, your withholding went down even more, resulting in a smaller refund. Remember, a refund just means you overpaid throughout the year.

For 2023, the standard deduction is $13,850 for single filers and $27,700 for married filing jointly. So if your TOTAL itemized deductions (mortgage interest + property taxes + charitable contributions + other eligible deductions) don't exceed those amounts, then you're better off taking the standard deduction. With $11,200 in mortgage interest alone, you're close to the threshold for single filers. Do you have property taxes or charitable donations that would push you over the standard deduction amount?

What if my tax preparer was a local guy who's now retired? He did my taxes for years but closed his business last fall. Do preparers have to transfer their records when they close or am I just out of luck?

That's definitely a tough situation. When preparers retire, they're supposed to notify clients about what will happen with their records. Many transfer them to another preparer who takes over their business, or maintain limited access to records for situations exactly like this. If you know his name, try searching online to see if there's any information about who took over his clients. You could also check with other local tax offices - sometimes they absorb the clients and records from retiring preparers in the area.

How did you make an appointment? When I called the IRS appointment line it said the wait was over 3 weeks for my local office. Did you just walk in or is there a faster way to get seen?

Does it matter if some of the unfiled years included illegal income? Not asking for a friend...seriously wondering how that affects the process.

Regarding income from illegal activities, it technically should be reported on tax returns (yes, seriously - the IRS requires reporting of all income regardless of source). However, in practice, most people in this situation report it as "other income" without specifying the source. The Fifth Amendment can protect you from having to disclose the specific illegal source, but not from paying taxes on the income itself. That said, this is definitely an area where having professional representation is crucial - ideally an attorney with tax expertise who can maintain attorney-client privilege.

I used it after being behind 7 years. It helped me avoid some penalties, but you have to file all required returns first before you can access most of the benefits. The installment agreements were surprisingly reasonable tho.