You were supplied all of the information that you needed to comment on whether or not the use of the 2013 refund in a filed tax return constituted a claim of that amount
You see, the facts in your post are pretty hard to believe. In fact, they’re not even believable at all. This makes your question, which is based on a falsehood, not even a valid question.
You’re telling us that the guy claimed a credit on his 2014 timely filed return for an amount that did not exist when he timely filed that 2014 return – for an overpayment credit from his 2013 return that was never filed. You’re telling us that the IRS processed his 2014 return, back in 2015, like everything was perfectly fine with it. The IRS does not give a credit to anyone for an estimated payment that wasn’t made, for an extension payment that wasn’t made, or for an applied overpayment from a prior year return that was never filed. Thus, I don’t believe your facts.
If his 2014 return sailed right through, there is no way possible that the credit in question, that was shown on his 2014 return, was an overpayment credit from an unfiled 2013 return. If his 2014 return didn’t sail right through, I think we know why.
Given that your understanding of the facts doesn’t add up, it is legitimate conjecture to try and figure out what happened.
1. If the 2014 return really was filed, and if it was accepted with no issues, then what you think was the overpayment credit he claimed on that 2014 return from 2013 *isn’t* an overpayment credit from 2013. Rather, it is likely what the client says was his 2013 extension payment. Client could be mistaken. That “2013 extension payment” he says he made could very well have been a 1Q 2014 estimated tax payment. In short, the 2013 extension payment the client says he made wasn’t a 2013 extension payment, but rather, a 2014 estimate.
2. Or, it could be that the client made the 2013 extension payment he said he made, but he ALSO made a 1Q 2014 estimated tax payment and is is this 2014 estimated tax payment that the IRS properly posted to his 2014 account, making his 2014 return sail right through with no issues.
3. Or, it could be that the client actually made a 2014 extension payment and the IRS legitimately gave him credit for it on his 2014 return.
4. Or, it could be that the guy actually filed his 2013 return with a legitimate overpayment that legitimately got applied to 2014…despite your belief that his 2013 return has yet to be filed.
5. Or, it could be that the guy never filed his 2014 return, despite your belief that it was timely filed.
6. Finally, given that we can’t trust your facts, the 2014 return might not have sailed through with no issues in the first place. For all we know, if the guy really did try to claim an 2013-to-2014 overpayment credit on his 2014 timely filed return, the IRS rejected that amount, sent the guy correspondence, and the guy then paid what was owed (back in 2015 or so).
There are numerous possibilities here, but the one that makes zero sense is yours – that the IRS gave the guy credit for an overpayment associated with an unfiled tax return.
although apparently you were able to fight thru the dust and comprehend the intention of the phraseology
Barely, but no one else bothered to…
I have more conjecturing I could do…like if this guy is a long-term client or not…if we have evidence of the return that was filed for 2014, etc. But you probably don’t want to go there, even though it would help to actualy resolve some of the outstanding issues here and narrow things down a bit. And if this was me, I’d want all of this resolved before filing a real late 2013 return for this guy only to find that pre-payments we include on that return were never made or were applied to some other tax year…or to find that his 2013 return was already filed.