The IRS Notice CP51C means that the IRS computed the tax on your IRS Form 1040, 1040-A or 1040-EZ to see if you owe taxes. This notice is one of the CP51 series of notices. Notice CP51C only shows you how the IRS computed your tax return for a specific year or a number of years. The IRS will not request a payment from you. The notice doesn’t also tell you that you are going to get a refund from the IRS. You are not required to reply the notice. It is just for you to read and understand how your tax return was calculated. If you check it and see that something is wrong with the calculation, you are allowed to contact the IRS for clarification. You will find a toll free number on the top right corner of the notice CP51C. The IRS could have made mistakes while calculating your return but if they check and see they didn’t make a mistake, they will request additional information from you which you will need to provide in order for the IRS to clarify the issue.

It is important to know the difference between the three CP51 notices. This particular one is to show you how your tax return was calculated whereas Notice CP51A is telling you that after reviewing your taxes, they found out you owe the IRS money and you are required to pay immediately or make arrangements with the IRS to pay. Notice CP51B is telling you that you will get a refund within a certain period of time. The notices are very similar so take your time to understand the purpose of the three of them.

As we know, the amount you see on the notice is as a result of the tax computed on Form 1040, Form 1040X and Form 1040EZ. We would discuss about the three forms below.

FORM 1040 – U.S. INDIVIDUAL TAX RETURN

Form 1040 is the standard Internal Revenue Service (IRS) form that individual taxpayers use to file their annual income tax returns. The form contains sections that require taxpayers to show their taxable income for a specific year to determine whether additional taxes are owed or whether the filer will receive a tax refund from the IRS. Personal information, such as name, address, Social Security number, and the number of dependents are asked for on IRS Form 1040.A filer also needs to report wages, salary, taxable interest, capital gains, pensions, Social Security benefits, and other types of income. Taxpayers may need to file supplemental tax 1040 forms depending on their situation.

Form 1040 needs to be filed with the IRS by April 15^thin most years. The date for year 2020 was moved to July 15^th. Everyone who earns income over a certain threshold must file an income tax return with the IRS (businesses have different forms to report their profits). This is the most standard version of the 1040 series. All other forms fall under it, such as 1040-EZ, 1040NR-EZ, 1040-X, 1040-NR, 1040-ES, 1040-V and 1040-SR.

FORM 1040-X: AMENDED U.S. INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX RETURN

Form 1040-X is issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to taxpayers who need to amend their tax returns for any reason whatsoever. A 1040-X form is necessary for an amended tax return that will change tax calculations, such as changes to filing status, number of dependents, or corrections to income credits or deductions. However, it’s important to avoid using Form 1040-X for mathematical errors in your tax return, as the IRS will correct any in your return. The form must be filed within three years after the original return was filed or within two years after the tax was paid, whichever is later. Anyone who files a 1040-X form may also need to amend their state tax return.

The 1040-X form can be filed by anyone who has already filed a tax return and would like to correct Forms 1040, 1040-NR, 1040NR-EZ or 1040EZ (when it was still in use). If you also wish to change any amount adjusted by the IRS, you can file the form. Lastly, you can file this form if you wish to make a claim for a carry back due to a loss or unused credit.

FORM 1040EZ

IRS Form 1040EZ – Income Tax Return for Single and Joint Filers with No Dependents was the shortened version of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040. This form was for taxpayers with basic tax situations and offered a fast and easy way to file income taxes. Note that this IRS Form is no longer in use.

To use the form, a taxpayer had to have taxable income of less than $100,000, less than $1,500 of interest income, and claim no dependents. Other requirements for filing the Form 1040EZ included:

• The taxpayer and his or her spouse, if married filing jointly, had to be under age 65 at the end of the relevant filing period.
• He or she could not be blind as of the end of the relevant filing period.
• The filer could take no deductions for student loan interest, educator expenses, tuition and fees, and or itemized deductions.
• If the filer received interest income, he or she could not have been required to file Schedule B, didn’t have amounts in boxes 11, 12, or 13 of Form 1099-INT or boxes 6 and 10 of Form 1099-OID, and didn’t earn any interest as a nominee.
• Tax credits for retirement savings, health coverage, and education were not allowed.
• The tax filer could not have received any advance earned income credit (EIC), although he or she would have been allowed to claim the EIC when filing Form 1040EZ.
• The filer, his or her spouse, if married filing jointly, or any of his or her dependents for which he or she claimed the personal exemption didn’t receive any advance payments of the premium tax credit offered for health coverage plans sold on the Marketplace.
• The filer doesn’t owe any household employee taxes on wages paid to household employees.