{"id":100,"date":"2020-10-12T14:25:33","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T14:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/?p=100"},"modified":"2020-10-12T14:25:33","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T14:25:33","slug":"heres-what-happens-if-you-dont-do-your-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/12\/heres-what-happens-if-you-dont-do-your-taxes\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s What Happens If You Don’t Do Your Taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

You, yes\u00a0you<\/em>, can do your taxes this year. Many of you are done, most of you haven\u2019t started, and a few of you are freaking out. Some of you are thinking: what if I just don\u2019t file? What will happen if I don\u2019t pay? What if I didn\u2019t file last year or the year before that? What will they do to me and will I be in prison with Wesley\u00a0Snipes?<\/p>\n

I have\u00a0some<\/em>\u00a0answers to those questions! You should note that I am not a tax professional, that this is\u00a0definitely<\/em>\u00a0not professional advice and that every situation is unique. Also you should be doing your taxes right now probably, not reading the Internet. But here\u2019s some\u00a0experience<\/em>, offered person-to-person, that is not professional counsel.<\/p>\n

It is better to do a cruddy job and file than to not file.<\/strong>
\nWhen I say \u201ccruddy job,\u201d I don\u2019t mean \u201cmaking wild guesstimations\u201d or being dishonest. I mean: If you can\u2019t nail some stuff down, forget about it and move on. For instance: Do you not have receipts for some expenses? Big deal: cut them out and forget about it. (These small expense-deductions don\u2019t generally have too much effect on your tax burden anyway.) Err on the side of \u201churting\u201d yourself and just plow through it. It\u2019s just not worth making yourself crazy over fifteen\u00a0bucks!<\/p>\n

You can fix your return!<\/strong>
\nIt is\u00a0easy to amend a return<\/a>. It\u2019s also easy for the IRS to amend your return: \u201cYou do not need to file an amended return due to math errors. The IRS will automatically make that correction.\u201d Intense,\u00a0right?<\/p>\n

It is better to file and not pay than to not file and not pay.<\/strong>
\nWhat happened, you spend all your money? That\u2019s okay, pal! Do your taxes, send \u2019em in, if you have absolutely no money. You will incur not-totally-crazy penalties over time due to not paying, and they will want to talk to you about when you can pay. (Yup, it\u2019s always the broke people that have to pay more in this world.) That\u2019s not ideal, sure! But it\u2019s a lot more ideal than\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0having\u00a0filed.<\/p>\n

Okay, but should I be scared of the IRS?<\/strong>
\nThe IRS only wants to hear from you.<\/em>\u00a0The answer, surprisingly, is a very firm \u201cno\u201d! Not at all! The IRS has some of the nicest, most understanding people I have ever spoken with in my life. True\u00a0fact.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of TV- and movie-propagated terror about the IRS. (As well, the whole idea of the government and money is anxiety-producing on its own, sure.) And the truth is\u2026 well, they kind of used to be\u00a0a little mean<\/em>? But that\u2019s actually ancient history. The people at the IRS are some of the funnest people ever! I have had long hilarious conversations with them on the phone. (For real, there are some hilarious ladies down in Atlanta.) IRS employees are like most civil servants; they deal with confused, freaked out and sometimes very dingbatty people (not you, friend!) every day\u200a\u2014\u200athe kind of people who do not follow directions, particularly. So if you are not a jerk, they will be delighted to speak to you, at length. They will sometimes be like, \u201cGirl, how did you get into this trouble?\u201d and you\u2019ll be like \u201cOh, haha, I\u2019m a mess! Mistakes happen!\u201d and they\u2019ll be like, \u201cI hear you! I get it!\u201d Do not be afraid. What they want is to hear from\u00a0you.<\/p>\n

Should I be scared of my state tax department?<\/strong>
\nActually\u2026 well, maybe just a\u00a0little<\/em>. The same rules apply as above\u200a\u2014\u200athey do want to hear from you!\u200a\u2014\u200abut, for instance, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance seems to be a little cranky. They want their money, they want it now, and if you don\u2019t give it to them, they will take it. I\u2019m sure there are some wonderful, caring people working in all of America\u2019s fine state tax departments!<\/p>\n

What happens if you don\u2019t file?<\/strong>
\nHave I mentioned that\u00a0the IRS only wants to hear from\u00a0you<\/em>?<\/p>\n

No really, what happens if you don\u2019t file and don\u2019t pay?<\/strong>
\nGreat news! Eventually the IRS will\u00a0do your taxes for you<\/em>. This is called a substitute return. Doesn\u2019t that sound nice? Well it\u2019s not particularly. For an agency that\u2019s devoted to taxes, they don\u2019t do a very good job at it. (Kidding.) So the good news is that your taxes will be done! The bad news is that they will take your reported income, slot it into the appropriate tax bracket, and say you owe that percentage. So if you made $85,000, bam, you owe\u00a028%.<\/p>\n

Also? Lots of people can\u2019t deal with taxes when they\u2019re even going to get money back! People are funny. But you should know that your refund\u00a0disappears in three years<\/a>\u00a0if you don\u2019t\u00a0file.<\/p>\n

What happens if, like, I ignore the IRS?<\/strong>
\nWell, you\u2019ll get a\u00a0ton<\/em>\u00a0of mail. And the problem with being \u201cin trouble\u201d is that your sense of being in trouble fades really fast. That\u2019s how people are built. Most people pay taxes because they\u2019re scared of the consequences. So, you don\u2019t file one year, and then\u2026 nothing that terrible happens! So you\u2019re off to the races. And then you get a scary piece of mail from the IRS, and you ignore it, and\u2026 nothing terrible happens again! It\u2019s very easy for the human mind to acclimate to\u00a0this.<\/p>\n

And then, they will make it so that you can\u2019t ignore them. (For instance, your debit card will stop working! Heh.) You should head that off at the pass. The moral being: even if you aren\u2019t scared of the consequences now, you will be\u00a0later.<\/p>\n

Ugh, they sent a letter to everyone I\u2019ve ever worked for! How humiliating!<\/strong>
\nNah, it\u2019s not. Years ago, the IRS sent out a letter to people who\u2019d paid me money, informing them they had an interest in having that money for themselves. And half the people who got these letters\u200a\u2014\u200acaring, decent, professional, adult-type people!\u200a\u2014\u200awere like \u201cHa, I got one of these letters last year!\u201d It was a moment of bonding. To be fair, one person was a little judgmental, but you are by no means alone in these\u00a0issues.<\/p>\n

So how do I work out paying if I haven\u2019t paid?<\/strong>
\nYou know how GE and Bank of America don\u2019t pay any taxes? That happens because they\u2019re well-advised. You too should be well-advised. Down the road, if you end up in debt with the IRS, you will likely have a couple of options\u200a\u2014\u200ausually Offer in Compromise or Payment Plan. These are actually not terribly straightforward. For instance, you can work out a payment plan with the IRS, after filling out quite a lot of paperwork, and having your financial life pretty well-surveilled by them, but the IRS is actually required to ensure that you have enough money and income to meet the payment plan. (They can\u2019t agree to a payment plan that\u2019s onerous.) But that doesn\u2019t mean that, even if you are on an installment plan, that penalties don\u2019t continue to accrue! So, many people find that they\u2019re often\u00a0better off<\/a>\u00a0getting a bank loan. And Offer in Compromise is extremely complicated. With those, for instance, you cannot miss a yearly tax payment for at least the next five years, or the deal is off. So you are going to need to become an expert\u200a\u2014\u200abut more importantly, you\u2019re also going to need to consult with a real\u00a0expert.<\/p>\n

Ugh, I don\u2019t know what to do!<\/strong>
\nGuess what?\u00a0The IRS only wants to hear from you.<\/em>\u00a0Also? These things are never as bad as you think. Now go off to your quiet place and do your taxes. I can promise you\u2019ll be happy you\u00a0did.<\/p>\n

HELP I\u2019M PANICKING!<\/strong>
\nLots of online tax products are free to use to file an extension. If you can\u2019t do ANYTHING else at all, do\u00a0that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You, yes\u00a0you, can do your taxes this year. Many of you are done, most of you haven\u2019t started, and a few of you are freaking out. Some of you are thinking: what if I just don\u2019t file? What will happen if I don\u2019t pay? What if I didn\u2019t file last year or the year before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,6,5],"tags":[32,31,26,34,18,33,15,10,8],"class_list":["post-100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irs","category-sex-workers","category-taxes","tag-amended-return","tag-heres-what-happens-if-you-dont-do-your-taxes","tag-irs","tag-money","tag-pay-taxes","tag-receipts","tag-sex-worker","tag-sex-workers","tag-taxes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101,"href":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions\/101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sexworkertaxes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}