The glitch in the system is if the “secondary” taxpayer (spouse 2) makes a payment, the system might not link the payment to the “primary” taxpayer (spouse 1) in the married filing jointly returns.

There might be certain scenarios for this error to occur:

  1. Not electronic and is made by the secondary spouse.
  2. Electronic, is made by the secondary spouse, and posts before the joint return indicator is present to identify the primary taxpayer.
  3. Made by the secondary spouse using the Online Account (OLA) Make a Payment functionality.

The IRS recognized this situation in a July 27 notice. “The IRS is aware that some payments made for 2021 tax returns have not been correctly applied to joint taxpayer accounts, and these taxpayers are receiving erroneous balance due notices (CP-14 notices) or notices showing the incorrect amount,” the notice read. “Generally, these are payments made by the spouse (second taxpayer listed) on a married filing jointly return submitted through their Online Account. Some other taxpayers may also be affected outside of this group.”

If a notice is received, the taxpayer, or tax professional with Power of Attorney, should contact the IRS and request a correction of this situation.

Link – Issue raised in July 2022 – https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2022/jul/some-balance-due-notices-joint-returns-issued-error-irs-says.html

Link – Married filing joint still getting CP-14 notices – https://www.nysscpa.org/news/publications/the-trusted-professional/article/married-taxpayers-filing-jointly-should-be-aware-of-glitch-with-cp-14-notices-010423