I filed a certain year (and several others) after the 2 year requirement from date of payment for a substitute for return (4 years in total after the payment).

Now I understand the law barring refunds after 2 years, however, I filed an appeal due to:

My accountant whom I paid made a huge error on the year in question and made the amount due more than 16x the actual amount due. This error dissuaded me from filing a few years in a row, including the one in question, because of such a high erroneous amount due. I have proof of this (accountants forms/signature). As soon as I found out, I filed all returns promptly.

This was not the only issue which made me file late, there are a few other reasons like lack of financial resources to actually pay anyone else to help me further with regards to prior years and other hardships.

But ultimately, this error was the main, almost sole reason for not filing. Couple the fact that all my years had complicated carry forwards as well and it was almost impossible to file other years without filing this year with the error.

Basically, isn't there some sort of exception, hardship or reasonable procedures in place when you pay an accountant a lot of money, he screws up, and it mucks up so many years in a row, that there is reasonable cause to excuse a late filing?

Any insight?

I guess my question is, will appeals do anything to help me? Is this a futile appeal? Is it a legitimate appeal? I have no idea what to do honestly? If appeals rejects me should I bring it to tax court? We are talking about 15k here, and i'm not exactly flush with cash at all, I really need it back. Is the law so cruel that mistakes outside of your control, when you pay an expert to do something you have no knowledge of and expect it done right, that the law punishes the victim here?

Now I understand the law barring refunds after 2 years, however, I filed an appeal due to:=======>>you have until the later of 3 years from the date of your original deadline of the tax return or 2 years from the date the tax was actually paid to claim a refund of overpaid taxes from the IRS/your home state.

My accountant whom I paid made a huge error on the year in question and made the amount due more than 16x the actual amount due. This error dissuaded me from filing a few years in a row, including the one in question, because of such a high erroneous amount due. I have proof of this (accountants forms/signature). As soon as I found out, I filed all returns promptly.====> basically, you are responsible for paying taxes and penalties, regardless of who did the preparation. The IRS is not going to get between you and your accountant, the cpa.

A tax assessment has 3components: principal, interest, and penalty. A penalty is assessed if the IRS or State believes the mis-calculation ,error, was negligent. If you can demonstrate that the error was due to the accountant not yours, that should be grounds to apply for an abatement of the penalty; if part or all of an assessment was due to the accountant’s error, then tort law ,professional negligence, governs. The contract would come into play only if the CPA attempted, through the contract, to limit his or her liability for errors or omissions. Your remedy would be in small claims court. You would probably need expert testimony ,i.e., another accountant to support your claim, unless the error was quite obvious.

This was not the only issue which made me file late, there are a few other reasons like lack of financial resources to actually pay anyone else to help me further with regards to prior years and other hardships.==============> so as said, aslongas the accountant was negligent you may have a malpractice claim against him/her. The tax penalty would be part of the damages claimed. That is between you and youraccountant. You may talk to your CPA about who was at fault and what, if anything, he is willing to do about it. If that doesn't get you satisfaction then maybe consider speaking to a lawyer who specialized in accounting malpractice. Ultimately the battle may end up between you and the accountant's malpractice insurance carrier.