San Diego, CA asked in Tax Law for California

Q: When paying the IRS on back taxes, are the payments applied to the oldest or newest years first?

My husband and I have owed the last two years. To complicate matters, he had not filed his taxes for years before that. He finally filed everything and has been trying to get a payment plan with the IRS for almost a year now. I would like to just start paying on it but I want to make sure they are applying what I pay to the joint debt rather than to his old debts which were just filed.

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1 Lawyer Answer
Stanley H Block
Stanley H Block
Answered
  • Tax Law Lawyer
  • Pikesville, MD

A: Typically the IRS will apply your payment to the oldest years first. However, if you indicate on your payment, " please apply to tax year XXXX " they should apply the payment to the appropriate year There are more intricacies in the question you asked and I suggest you have a consultation with a tax resolution attorney in your area.

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