I filed my taxes for tax-year 2004 in the middle of this February.
In March, I received another dividend form from my mutual fund company
showing a few extra bucks I made in 2004 in dividends. It's a little over
$50. 
This would add another $19 to my federal tax bill and another $5 for my
California tax bill.
Is it worth the hassle to file an amended tax return for
such small amounts? I already paid $40K+ to the feds and $13K+ to California
for 2004. 
I wouldn't mind just sending in a check to them but I'd really hate spending
all that time filling out the amendment forms.
I'm sure they will eventually catch this mistake since the fund companies also
send a copy of the dividend summmaries to them. What's the max they can
fine me for? If it's not too much, I might just wait for them to send me a
penalty bill as opposed to filing this amendment.

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Request for Question Clarification by alienintelligence-ga on 06 Apr 2005 13:09 PDT

Hi sunnyx05,

Since you essentially answered the question
yourself. I'll just post this as a clarification.

An additional hassle that hasn't been
taken into consideration might be an audit. 
Regardless of probability, it's not a
favorable situation.

With that as a possibility, I think the
hassle of filling out the additional
forms is a trivial task  =)  Especially
since you don't have a problem paying
the difference.

As far as trivial, I believe the interest
rate for interest charged on unpaid taxes
is rather small (in line with current finance
charges). The penalty is a little more
steep, but still minimal considering the
amount of tax owed. There will be an
additional fee (penalty) of 5%-25% per
month from both the federal and state,
separately.

Still, not much sense giving them money
that is not owed from common taxation,
right?

-AI

You can call the IRS and ask them directly. They have been helpful
when I've called and you do not need to give them any identifying
information to get the answer. 1-800-829-1040.