Fixing 2023 Estimated Federal Tax Payments

[Brent19]

I recently received a notice from the IRS stating that I owed $1024.00 in taxes. I began work as an independent contractor in the fall of 2023 and received my first paycheck in September 2023.  I made tax payments for Q4 of tax year 2023, however, I made a mistake and misapplied these payments to form 720 for year 2023 under my EIN when they should have been applied to form 1040 for year 2023 under my husband’s SSN (he is the primary SSN on our joint return).  Hence, the IRS did not apply these payments to our joint return.

After my estimated payments are correctly applied to our 2023 tax return, I believe there will be an overpayment of my 2023 taxes. I am writing a letter to the IRS to explain the above issue.  Is there anything else I should / need to do to correct the above issue and process my 2023 tax return. Thank you for any thoughts!

[RobertB4444 · Accepted solution]

This one can be fixed with a phone call.  It's a time consuming process to get ahold of the IRS but in your case it may be worth it since an IRS agent can see misapplied payments and move them to the correct account in real time.

Here's where to call the IRS.

If you would prefer not to call (and with 7 hour hold times I understand) then make certain that you send proof of your payment and where you sent it and ask to move it to the correct year and social security number.  You should be fine.

@Brent19 

[fanfare]

Hold time is not 7 hours.