Late payment penalty

From: Tom Darlington <TomDarlington_at_cfl.rr.com>
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 2006 01:47:09 GMT

I just received 3 notices from the IRS for late payment penalties for 3 trust accounts I am the executor of.
The return was prepared by a CPA, the checks were cut on 4/17 (the deadline this year),
but the IRS claims they did not receive them till 6/26.

I dont know if the CPA forgot to mail them, they were lost in the mail for 2 months,
they were lost at the IRS for 2 months or the IRS had a SW glitch.

The worst part is they want in excess of 100% of the original tax paid as  the penalty for one of the accounts.

I am having the brokerage firm that cut the checks get a copy of the  cancelled checks to see when they were cashed.

I know they say it must be postmarked by 4/17, obviously in the future I  will make sure everything is sent registered return receipt requested.  Does the IRS honor a registered mail receipt? How does one prove that  envelope contained the return in question?

Seems like my word againt theirs.
Really scary that something like this can happen.

What recourse, if any, do I have?

Thanks in advance. Received on Sun Aug 06 2006 - 18:47:09 PDT