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Andre Laurent

Received CP2000 from IRS claiming I owe $12K+ from Robinhood stock transactions

I just got hit with a CP2000 notice from the IRS in today's mail saying I owe them a crazy amount of money. According to this letter, I supposedly owe $12,821.00 for Robinhood stock transactions, which is absolutely not right. The issue seems to be with my 1099 from Robinhood. My tax statement clearly shows my actual net gain/loss with the proper cost basis, but somehow the IRS only has information from Robinhood claiming I made around $52,000 on stock sales. This is completely wrong - I've never even had that much money in my life, let alone made that much in stock trades. The letter says I have until January 4th to respond with documents proving my case. I have all my Robinhood statements saved, but I'm freaking out a bit. What exactly do I need to send them to clear this up? What specific documentation will prove that I don't owe this money? Has anyone dealt with this Robinhood/IRS issue before?

This is actually a pretty common problem with brokerages like Robinhood. What's happening is that the IRS received what's called a 1099-B from Robinhood that only shows your proceeds from stock sales (the $52,000), but not your cost basis (what you paid for those stocks). When responding to the CP2000, you'll need to include: 1. A copy of your complete and correct 1099-B from Robinhood that shows both your sales proceeds AND cost basis 2. A written explanation stating that Robinhood reported incomplete information to the IRS 3. Your own calculation showing your actual capital gains/losses for those transactions If you have the Robinhood tax forms that show your cost basis, that's what you need to send. The IRS is essentially assuming all $52K was profit because they don't have record of what you paid for the stocks originally. Don't panic - this is fixable with the right documentation. Just make sure you respond before the deadline with everything clearly organized.

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Thanks for the explanation. So basically Robinhood screwed up their reporting to the IRS? Is this something I should be contacting Robinhood about as well to have them correct their reporting to the IRS? Or is sending my documentation to the IRS sufficient?

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The issue isn't necessarily that Robinhood screwed up - sometimes brokerages are only required to report the sales proceeds to the IRS, not the cost basis, especially for certain types of transactions or older accounts. Sending your documentation to the IRS is the primary solution. Contacting Robinhood might help, but they likely won't issue a corrected 1099-B directly to the IRS at this point. Your response to the CP2000 with proper documentation is the fastest path to resolving this. Make sure you keep copies of everything you send!

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I went through almost the exact same situation last year with about $35k in supposed unreported gains from crypto trades. After spending hours trying to reconstruct all my transactions and still feeling uncertain, I started using https://taxr.ai and it honestly saved me. Their system was able to analyze my Robinhood statements and identify exactly what the IRS was missing. It organized all my cost basis information, matched it with the sales transactions, and generated the exact documentation I needed to respond to the CP2000. They even included a cover letter template explaining the situation to the IRS in their terms. Might be worth checking out since you're in the same boat I was in. The peace of mind alone was worth it for me because I was freaking out about owing money I didn't have.

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Did they actually help resolve the issue with the IRS or just give you the documents? I'm wondering because I'm in a similar situation and worried the IRS won't accept my explanation.

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How much did it cost? Their website doesn't seem to list prices and I'm always suspicious when they hide that info.

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They helped resolve the issue completely. The documents they generated were exactly what the IRS needed, and about 6 weeks after I sent everything in, I got a revised notice showing I only owed a fraction of the original amount (just some dividend income I had actually missed). I don't remember the exact cost since this was last year, but it was reasonable considering the alternative was potentially owing thousands to the IRS. What I liked is they don't make you pay until after they analyze your situation and tell you if they can help. They were upfront about everything.

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Just wanted to update that I decided to try taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here. I was skeptical at first but honestly so glad I did. My situation was almost identical - CP2000 notice for about $18K from stock sales where the IRS didn't have my cost basis info. Their system analyzed all my Robinhood statements, found every purchase and sale, and created a perfectly formatted response package for the IRS. They even highlighted where Robinhood's reporting was incomplete and cross-referenced everything with my actual transactions. Just got confirmation from the IRS last week that my case is resolved and I only owe $210 for a dividend payment I actually did miss reporting. Saved me over $17,000 in incorrect tax assessments! Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with this Robinhood CP2000 mess.

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After dealing with something similar (though with Coinbase, not Robinhood), I spent WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS to explain my situation. Calling was impossible - always on hold for hours only to get disconnected. Finally found https://claimyr.com and used their service which actually got me a callback from the IRS within a couple hours. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Having an actual conversation with an IRS agent made all the difference. They explained exactly what documentation I needed to submit and even noted in my file that I had contacted them about the CP2000 issue. Made the whole process way less stressful knowing I was on the right track with my response.

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Wait, there's a service that can actually get the IRS to call you back? How does that even work? The IRS phone system is literally the worst thing I've ever dealt with.

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Sounds like a scam to me. Nobody can magically make the IRS call you. They probably just take your money and then you're in the same place you started.

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It's not magic - they basically use technology to wait on hold for you in the IRS phone queue. When an agent finally picks up, the system connects the call to your phone number. So instead of you waiting on hold for 3+ hours, their system does it. They don't promise an immediate callback - just that you don't have to be the one sitting on hold. In my case it took about 2 hours before I got the call, but I was able to go about my day instead of being stuck listening to the IRS hold music. Definitely not a scam, it worked exactly as advertised.

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I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I was still desperate enough to try it since my CP2000 deadline was approaching fast. Used the service yesterday morning, and no joke, I got a call from an actual IRS agent about 3 hours later. The agent walked me through exactly what documentation I needed for my Robinhood transactions and even gave me his direct line for follow-up questions. For anyone dealing with these CP2000 notices, being able to actually speak with someone at the IRS makes a HUGE difference. They explained that this Robinhood issue is super common right now and gave me confidence that my response would be accepted if I included the right documentation.

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Ava Kim

Just wanted to add something important that people often miss: make sure you're calculating your cost basis correctly on those Robinhood trades. If you were buying fractional shares or doing dividend reinvestment, you need to account for every single purchase, not just the initial investment. Also, if you did any wash sales (selling at a loss and buying similar securities within 30 days), your cost basis gets adjusted. Robinhood should show this in your detailed statements, but it's easy to miss.

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Thanks for bringing this up. I did have some dividend reinvestment happening automatically. Does Robinhood include all of that in their year-end tax statement, or do I need to compile that information separately?

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Ava Kim

Robinhood should include all dividend reinvestments in your year-end tax statement. Look for the section that shows all transactions - it should list every purchase, including those made through dividend reinvestment. The most important thing is to make sure you're sending the IRS the COMPLETE tax statement from Robinhood, not just the summary page. The detailed transaction history is what proves your cost basis. If you're using their website, make sure you download the full tax document package, not just the simplified version.

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One more thing - when you respond to the CP2000, don't just send a stack of documents without explanation. Create a simple cover letter that clearly states: 1) You agree/disagree with the notice 2) The exact reason (Robinhood reported proceeds without cost basis) 3) A simple calculation showing your actual gain/loss I made the mistake of just sending in statements without a clear explanation and ended up getting another notice because they couldn't figure out what I was trying to show them.

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This is really good advice. I work in tax preparation and the IRS gets thousands of these responses every day. Making their job easier with a clear explanation dramatically increases your chances of a quick resolution. A bulleted list showing "IRS says: $X, Actual amount: $Y, Difference: $Z" with supporting documents makes a huge difference.

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As someone who just went through this exact same nightmare with Robinhood, I wanted to share what worked for me. I got a CP2000 for $23K that I definitely didn't owe. The key thing that saved me time was organizing everything before I responded. I created a spreadsheet with three columns: what the IRS thought I made, what I actually made, and the difference. Then I attached the supporting Robinhood documents for each transaction. What really helped was calling the number on the CP2000 notice (yes, you'll be on hold forever, but it's worth it). The agent told me that as long as I could prove my cost basis with official brokerage statements, they would accept my response. She also mentioned that these Robinhood cases are super common right now - apparently their reporting system changed and it's causing tons of these notices. My advice: Don't panic, gather ALL your Robinhood tax documents (the complete package, not just the summary), and respond with a clear explanation. It took about 8 weeks, but I got a revised notice showing I owed $0. You've got this!

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