I am nearing the end of my life and need help.
Due to the restriction on the length of posts, I have to break up my post, so please follow the chain of posts for the full story.
I am very sick with a terminal illness. I am mostly bedridden. I can barely type. I don't care anymore about pleasantness or trying to hide these things. Over the past few days, I've been trapped in a hellish nightmare due to the fateful decision of filing an extension and huge tax payment with FreeTaxUSA, which provides zero phone support and thus far fruitless email support. Below are my communications with them starting about a day ago, minus any irrelevant language. They insist the extension was accepted the same day I filed it (the 15th), but this extension and payment do not exist whatsoever anywhere in the entire IRS system (according to four IRS agents), or anywhere in my IRS account. ALL I am asking FreeTaxUSA to do, at the recommendation of an accountant acquaintance I spoke with, is review the extension transmission logs for any errors/bugs, which she said she's seen occur multiple times before with other software. Please help if you can; I need to know how to convince these people to do what is absolutely part of their job, for a dying person no less, because I already know their response to my latest message will be another refusal. I am almost at the point of just ending things. I can't take the stress of this anymore. All the details of what's going on are included below in our exchanges:
(end of first post)
Comments
-
MESSAGE #1 FROM ME TO FREETAXUSA:
I e-filed an extension with a $5600 payment for my 2025 taxes on April 15, 2026 using Freetaxusa.com, which I've used many times before. The extension was rejected within about 5 minutes (due to not accepting the AGI amount I entered, even though it was correct), so I immediately re-filed the extension, this time with my PIN, and it was accepted within about 10 minutes. I received multiple notices and proofs of the acceptance from Freetaxusa.com: an email and text; a web notice in my account showing the date, timestamp, and submission ID number; a downloadable document showing the date, timestamp, and extension form; and a downloadable document showing my bank account information.
Well, nothing was ever accepted by the IRS. No payment was ever deducted. I have now spent over twelve excruciating hours on the phone with the IRS. They have confirmed that they only have a record of my rejected extension, and that no extension was ever accepted by them, nor are there any pending payments. They told me that if an extension had actually been accepted by them, it would be showing in their system, period. They said they have not seen a situation like this before, in which tax software is telling someone an extension was accepted, complete with timestamp, ID number, etc, but in actuality it never was.
Other than telling me that no extension was ever accepted and no payment is pending, the IRS agents were unknowledgeable and unhelpful, and they flat out told me they had no advice or direction to give, and that I could expect to be assessed all of the penalties - failure to file, failure to pay, interest, etc. I broke down in tears repeatedly while speaking to them; it didn't matter. I can't even afford a small amount in penalties. $5600 is all I have. And I will not be able to file my actual tax return until July or August, so the penalties by then will be enormous.
Worse yet, I cannot go to the IRS site and make the $5600 payment now to stop the bleeding, because I have no idea if the extension is somehow in "limbo" somewhere, meaning at some point the IRS will try deducting that money from my bank account, which, if I've already gone ahead and made the payment again, would then be rejected for insufficient funds and incur a brand new penalty. I am trapped, with no way out.
ALL of the IRS agents told me I must contact the tax software I used to file the extension for assistance, because they cannot help me.
(end of second post)
0 -
MESSAGE #1 FROM FREETAXUSA:
I can see it was rejected once like you had mentioned, but it was submitted again and was accepted. If you provide the IRS with the acceptance ID, they will be able to look up your extension with that ID, as they are on the ones that issued that to you. It is not something we give to you.
I can assure you that your extension was e-filed and accepted by the IRS. Unfortunately, we are not able to send it again, because they have already accepted it.
I do see that your direct debit payment was set to be withdrawn on 4/15/2026. The IRS typically takes up to 5 business days to withdraw the funds. Because of the volume of returns being processed, we have noticed that they have been slower than typical doing withdrawals from taxpayer accounts. You will just want to keep an eye on your bank account to see when the IRS finally does withdraw the payment. Since your payment has already been scheduled prior to the filing deadline, the IRS will not penalize you.
I would recommend calling them again and giving them your extension Submission ID. They should be able to look up your accepted extension with that. Unfortunately, the IRS will not allow us to do anything on your behalf as they will need to hear from you.
(end of third post)
0 -
MESSAGE #2 FROM ME TO FREETAXUSA:
None of the IRS agents have been able to look up the submission ID. I have tried asking them that from the beginning, and I spoke to yet another agent today, bring the total to four. They said they do not have that capability, there is no search box available to them for the ID, and they cannot think of another department that would have that capability. So the ID number is a dead end as far as they're concerned. (I have tried many other IRS numbers at this point as well, and the only number that will actually speak to me is the main number [800 829 1040], and they are certain that they cannot look up the ID).
Unlike what you explained in your message regarding delays that can occur on the IRS's end due to things like high volume, what concerns me is that the agents all told me that if the extension had truly been accepted by the IRS, they would definitely be able to see that in the system from day one, as well as a "pending" payment from day one. But, there is nothing. No extension. No pending payment. Nothing for 2025 except the rejected extension.
I was able to briefly speak to an accountant I used to know today, and she said I should tell you the following regarding the transmission of the extension:
*Apparently, sometimes with tax software there will be an acceptance of a return/extension, complete with an ID number, but due to an error during some stage of the software's transmission process, it does not end up making it through the system properly and is thus never able to be fully processed by the IRS. She has seen this happen elsewhere multiple times. She said a tech person at your company should review the logs and history of the entire transmission process to confirm there were no errors, bugs, etc.
*Then, if there is an error found in the logs or history, simply fixing the error can be sufficient to fully resolve the problem and "free" the extension, but if it needs to be re-submitted after fixing the error, it should be the actual original extension documents so that it's still considered the valid 4/15/26 extension & payment.
Please follow this instruction regarding reviewing the logs, history, etc., and correct any discovered issue. Please let me know what is found, if anything, and how it is corrected. I hope something is found, because if not, there is this huge unpaid tax accumulating unaffordable penalties on a daily basis, with the IRS adamantly telling me that no accepted extension exists.
(end of fourth post)
0 -
MESSAGE #2 FROM FREETAXUSA:
I want to reassure you that on our end, your extension does show as accepted. I understand that has not matched what the IRS phone agents have told you.
One thing that may help is checking directly through the IRS Individual Online Account. This is the IRS's own secure online portal, and it is more comprehensive than what a phone agent can typically see. Through it, you can view your tax account details, see whether your extension is on file, and view all pending and scheduled payments, including any that have not yet been withdrawn. This may give you the clearest picture of exactly what the IRS has on record for you, without having to make another phone call. You can access it here: https://www.irs.gov/payments/online-account-for-individuals
Once you are logged in, go to the payment activity page to see if the $5,600 payment is listed as pending or scheduled. That will also help answer your question about whether it is safe to make a separate payment or not.
(end of fifth post)
0 -
MESSAGE #3 FROM ME TO FREETAXUSA:
I have had an individual IRS online account for years. I have been on it dozens of times over the past several days. I have already checked, and rechecked, and rechecked everything you mentioned: all activity, tax account details, tax records, tax transcripts, pending payments, scheduled payments, and much, much more. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO ACTIVITY SINCE 2024.
This is what I've been desperately trying to stress to you from the start: There is NO record, anywhere, in my IRS account, or in the entire IRS system accessible to any IRS agent, of any accepted extension or pending payment for 2025. Every IRS agent is telling me that it does. not. exist. Every IRS agent is telling me that if the extension had been transmitted properly, they would be able to see this acceptance in their system right away even if it hadn't popped up on my end yet. No. extension. exists. No. payment. exists.
I just stated above exactly what needs to be done, according to the 20 year accountant I spoke with today. She works for Turbotax, and this exact scenario occurred with some Turbotax customers' extensions. It is very simple, and she said ANY tax software company can easily do it:
*Sometimes with tax software there will be an acceptance of a return/extension, complete with an ID number, but due to an error during some stage of the software's transmission process, it does not end up making it through the system properly and is thus never able to be fully processed by the IRS. She has seen this happen elsewhere multiple times. She said a tech person at your company should review the logs and history of the entire transmission process to confirm there were no errors, bugs, etc.
*Then, if there is an error found in the logs or history, simply fixing the error can be sufficient to fully resolve the problem and "free" the extension, but if it needs to be re-submitted after fixing the error, it should be the actual original extension documents so that it's still considered the valid 4/15/26 extension & payment.
Doing the simple review described above is the responsibility of any tax software company that has a customer experiencing this. I NEED to know if there were any errors/bugs in the logs, because I CANNOT just pay the IRS another $5600.
(This was the latest message.)
(end of sixth and final post)
0 -
Hello Ihydahfd,
I'm very sorry to hear you're so ill, and wish you only the best.
Your post is very detailed, which I appreciate. However, since this is a public forum, we can't address your specific account issues here. We'll need you to login to your account directly and work with our Customer Support team there.
1
