I accidentally sent payment to the wrong tax year bill?

[buckets-147]

I owed for 2019 taxes and went to make the payment but accidentally paid the money torwards my 2020 tax bill which I have not filed yet.

[fanfare]

Order you pay 2020 and 2019 - not important

Amount you pay 2020 and 2019 - important.

[ThomasM125]

The amount you paid will be applied to your 2020 tax return and if there is any left over, it will automatically be applied to your 2019 tax return. It will be difficult to get the payment applied to 2019, as you would have to call to affect that, so best to just file your 2020 and use the payment for that return. 

[buckets-147]

ThomasM125, thank you very much for you reply! I really appreciate it. I did try calling every number listed for the IRS but as you stated, there was no chance of actually talking with someone.  I will file my 2020 and let the money spread appropriately. Thanks again. Stay safe. 

[Megbritton]

I had a payment plan for 2020. I sent in a payment to pay off the full balance  yesterday through the online account on the IRS website and chose the option to “apply to payment plan” and after it was sent it said the year it was being applied to was 2018, I don’t have a payment plan for 2018. Any suggestions on how to get a hold of anyone at the IRS? Whenever I think I’m close to talking to someone it says they are too busy and hang up 

[rockyhunt]

I had this exact same thing happen to me.  I paid online and it applied to 2018 and I didn't owe or have a payment plan for 2018.  I don't know where the money went.  I have also tried to contact and can't get through.  Any help would be appreciated.

[Megbritton]

Glad I’m not the only one! 

I actually finally bit the bullet and paid Claimyr.com $30 to get someone on the phone at the IRS. I talked to a woman at the IRS yesterday and she said she could see the payment was received but it may take two weeks to post so she can’t switch it. She said more than likely they will see I don’t have a 2018 balance and it will be corrected in its own. If not, she said to call back in two weeks and they can manually switch it. 
the frustrating thing is the balance is still accruing interest every day…. It’s minimal, but still annoying and not right! 

[G_EM]

@Megbritton @rockyhunt We too are experiencing the same incident. However, we have a payment plan for 2019 Tax Year. I sent in a partial payment early part of May 2022 through the online account on the IRS website, selected the 2019 tax year we wanted paid and when I checked online last week, that payment was also applied to 2018 Tax Year which we didn't even owe taxes. I also tried calling IRS and same message, extremely high call volume please call back and got disconnected. Have you had any luck to resolve this? G_EM

[K_Chacon]

Hey @Megbritton , I just did the same thing. I logged on to create a payment plan for 2021, Created a payment plan but wanted to sent some money now to lower the balance. I did the exact same thing you did and when I finally submit the payment noticed it said for Tax Year 2018. I didn’t owe or have a payment plan on 2018. My question is being that it’s been over 2 weeks since you spoke with someone at the IRS, is did it finally resolve its self or should I wait it out and call. 

thanks in advance. 

[Gcohen89]

Did you ever figure out this issue?? I just had the exact same problem. Owed for 2021 but applied my payment to 2018 for some random reason. Did adjust it and apply the payment to the correct year?

[Gcohen89]

Did you ever figure out this issue?? I just had the exact same problem. Owed for 2021 but applied my payment to 2018 for some random reason. Did adjust it and apply the payment to the correct year?

[Gcohen89]

Did they ever correct it for you? Exact same thing just happened to me.

[K_Chacon]

 @Gcohen89  Yes. They took the money right away and I kept checking everyday to see if it would fix itself. After a few days I noticed my balance for 2021 had lowered by the amount I prepaid. Actually, I just got a letter yesterday from the IRS explaining that I overpaid 2018 and because I don’t owe anything for 2018 that the money would be used to cover my balance for 2021. Took about 3 weeks to receive this letter. 

[Gcohen89]

OK that puts my mind at ease a little bit. Thank you so much for getting back to me. They obviously have a serious problem with this 2018 thing because I’ve read a bunch of forum where people try to pay for this year or last year and it automatically applies it for 2018 for some reason. It’s really messed up

[Megbritton]

I’ve gotten a hold of the IRS three times now since April 18th and they keep saying it’s “in process” of going to the right year but they can’t make it go faster. I’m frustrated because they are still taking out my payment plan payment and they are saying that I will be refunded, but I can see that happening months or even years from

now at this rate.