So I received 2 separate letters from 2023 tax year. One was a delinquent notice for my wife not paying local taxes.
Another was for myself with a discrepancy notice.
We filed jointly that year, yet we have received 2 letters with completely different account numbers.
Now here is the part that infuriates me.
We never received these notices until November 2025, and this year in January for the other.
They both had delinquent fees. So my first thought was, 'dang I don't remember any prior notice about these'
I called and found out some interesting things.
First off, Berkheimer messed up completely. I went back to my tax man and he was 100% adamant we did everything right.
And he was right, the lady from Berkheimer pushed the 2023 tax year of ours back to processing in their system because she agreed something messed up. I did not need to provide literally any other piece of documentation. Meaning, they had everything they needed and THEY MESSED UP.
So I asked, 'why are we being charged delinquent fees, 1.5 years later with absolutely no prior warning?'
She said along the lines of, "PA State is like 2-3 years behind on giving us the data for tax years, so by the time we received the 2023 return for you guys, it was already October 2025."
WHICH IS ALREADY DELINQUENT IN BERKHEIMERS SYSTEM. Which means Berkheimer is charging delinquent fees through no fault of your own.
Now, she mentioned, "well if you send us incorrect information, that is on you"
And I guess that is true, but at the same time, they give absolutely no time frame of grace to fix any incorrect information, because the state and Berkheimer are extremely slow. Also, we all know the U.S. tax system is extremely confusing, especially if you have way more than just a W-2, work out of state, etc. So if you mess up, you won't know for 2 years and will be charged massive fees.
In my wifes specific case, Berkheimer did not comprehend that in 2023 we lived in 2 separate places and had 2 separate local income taxes (and she works remote, for an out of state company, already a bit more confusing huh). Their fault
Then I asked, "what if we provided all the correct information, like my case right now, but Berkheimer messed up, will I be charged a delinquent fee if you said I owed $150, I paid that, but then you say I owe $30 after the fact because you messed up?'
She said, "yes the system will AUTOMATICALLY apply the $25.00 fee before it is sent in the mail, but you can call to try to get it waived"
Lord almighty, how is this practice not illegal?
TL:DR - Berkheimer doesn't receive returns from the state to verify information until it is already delinquent within their system, and they will charge delinquent fees even if THEY messed up. No prior notices