N400 IRS Transcripts question

[ebhopeful 0]

Hello everybody,

 

My SO and I are planning to file under the 5 year general provision. We were looking through our IRS transcripts and for a particular tax year we noticed that the transcript shows 0 for balance and penalties but has a $0.17 of accrued interest. We called the IRS and they are puzzled and do not see any balance on the account. Two separate agents reassured us that we don't owe any money to them despite what the transcript says. So, what do we do here? Is this going to be an issue? I would love to pay off any balance but according to the agents there is none to be paid off. All other years say 0 for balance, interest and penalties.

 

TIA!

[EatBulaga 454]

On 3/28/2025 at 7:47 PM, ebhopeful said:

Hello everybody,

 

My SO and I are planning to file under the 5 year general provision. We were looking through our IRS transcripts and for a particular tax year we noticed that the transcript shows 0 for balance and penalties but has a $0.17 of accrued interest. We called the IRS and they are puzzled and do not see any balance on the account. Two separate agents reassured us that we don't owe any money to them despite what the transcript says. So, what do we do here? Is this going to be an issue? I would love to pay off any balance but according to the agents there is none to be paid off. All other years say 0 for balance, interest and penalties.

 

TIA!

You could send in a small estimated tax payment, like 10, with the form 1040-ES.

Keep the small positive balance with the IRS for a few years.

In other words, when you file for the tax return leave 10 for next year's taxes.

You lose at most a few years of interests on 10, which is a small price to pay to insure you don't owe any penalized tax or accrued interest with the IRS.

[ebhopeful 0]

Circling back here in case this helps anybody in the future. We sent an electronic payment ($0.17) to the IRS and they took about 10 days to apply it. That seemed to do the trick. It zeroed out the accrued interest and we're all good now.

[OldUser 8,801]

36 minutes ago, ebhopeful said:

Circling back here in case this helps anybody in the future. We sent an electronic payment ($0.17) to the IRS and they took about 10 days to apply it. That seemed to do the trick. It zeroed out the accrued interest and we're all good now.

Which transcript are you talking about?  Account transcript?

You need tax return transcript.

[ebhopeful 0]

Yes, account transcript. Never had issues with the return transcripts. They're good.

[OldUser 8,801]

1 minute ago, ebhopeful said:

Yes, account transcript. Never had issues with the return transcripts. They're good.

Tax return transcripts is all you need for N-400.

 

I guess having 0 balance allows you to day you don't own IRS anything...

Edited April 18 by OldUser

[ebhopeful 0]

1 minute ago, OldUser said:

Tax return transcripts is all you need for N-400.

 

I guess having 0 balance allows you to day you don't own IRS anything...

thanks. I always had a 0 balance (confirmed twice by IRS agents) but something was off about the account transcript.