Commissioner Grennes and DOR staff thank INCPAS members and staff for their continued cooperation and support throughout Project NextDOR. As you are probably aware, this is the first season that the new Indiana Tax System (ITS) and INTIME have been used for individual income tax-related processes. We value our partnership with CPAs and appreciate the concerns you have brought to our attention. Rest assured we are working to correct systemic issues as quickly as possible.

Although we have fixed the issue causing unnecessary “recomp” letters (due to not including the carry forward amounts in estimated payment totals) and are in the process of resolving the error when the checkbox is indicated for farming or fishing income, we are aware of some continuing confusion resulting from these letters and the included payment voucher.  We hope the following information clarifies why your client may receive one of these letters.

DOR is legally required to send recomp letters when the agency makes any adjustment to a tax return, even when there is no overall change to the balance on the account. In addition, we send these letters when:

• There is a difference in the way estimated payments were applied to a tax liability; or
• There has been a change resulting in an adjustment to a payment plan; or
• There are other changes or adjustments resulting in a change in the amount of tax owed or refund received; or
• Penalty has been assessed for underpayment of estimated payments. DOR rounds balances to the nearest dollar, which could add an additional $0.07 to the amount due.
  

A payment coupon is included with every recomp letter when a balance is owed as a convenience to the customer. This way, if there is an additional liability, the customer may pay it by the due date, avoid receiving a Notice of Proposed Assessment and paying additional penalty and interest. 

Unfortunately, it is not feasible to remove the payment voucher when the original amount owed to DOR has not changed.  However, we will be re-working the voucher to include the due date and a disclaimer that the amount due may not reflect payments made recently or payments scheduled for a future date. We also plan to include greater clarity on due dates, penalties, and interest in the body of the letter. We will work with INCPAS to ensure the wording is clear for both practitioners and taxpayers. Look for these updates next tax season.

If you have a question regarding a letter from DOR for a specific individual, please respond to the letter directly through INTIME at intime.dor.in.gov. Using the respond feature and not the messaging feature will result in faster resolution and hold any additional actions until customer service can answer your concerns and questions. If you have a general question or suspect a systemic error, you can contact DOR using one of the methods available in the agency’s Tax Practitioner Resource Packet.