Nearly a freaking year ago…okay, maybe not quite, but it feels like it, we got a letter from the IRS stating that we owed them $2,000 dollars. After recovering from nearly fainting, I sat down to read the letter and discovered that apparently we owed this money for two reasons. 1) We had failed to report a $90 gain on one tiny account we never use and 2) because my husband had made $13,000 dollars more than we had reported.
Well, apparently we had actually forgotten all about the tiny account, bad us. But, as much as I would have LOVED to have been $13,000 richer, the second and far more major charge simply wasn’t true. I had to dig up the W2s to verify that we didn’t have any severe brain malfunctions while filing, and surprisingly, we hadn’t. (I say surprisingly because, knowing us, a malfunction would be more than likely.) We had filed exactly what we received which was exactly what Mario had made.
So, I wrote the IRS a letter explaining all this, wrote a check for the estimated $20 we owed for the missed account, stuck it all in the mail, and dusted off my hands, confident the situation would soon be resolved.
Weeks went by. Months, even.
One day, another letter from the IRS showed up, this one more threatening than the last. It thanked me for my payment, but informed me I still owed a big chunk from that missing income, and it had better be paid now OR ELSE--or else fatty interest and a paddling from Uncle Sam.
Irate, I went to my husband’s employers. They swore up and down that we had the right information, and they had reported the same information. I wrote another letter, this time with all the required documentation, stuck it all in the mail, and dusted off my hands-—which, this time, were slightly sweaty and red from being clenched.
Weeks went by. Months, even.
One day, ANOTHER letter from IRS showed up, this one even more threatening than the threatening one. The documentation wasn’t good enough. I needed to pay asap or be entered into official deficiency status. I called and suffered through a long, long, LONG hold. The Fresno IRS center swore they had an extra, separate W2 for the missing amount. My husband’s bosses swore they had no record of it. A tad more than irate, I wrote another letter attesting to the fact that whatever mystical documentation had been received by the IRS was apparently sent by mischievous aliens, had the employers print it on their stationary and sign it, stuck it all in the mail, and dusted off my hands. Or I would have, if they hadn't been balled into punching position.
Weeks went by. Months, even.
Deficiency notices began appearing in the mail. I ignored them.
Then one glorious day not too long ago, another letter arrived, this one stating that we had finally been cleared of all charges. Oh, glorious day! How joyous we felt to know that our rightfully earned and already overtaxed $2,000 would be staying right where it belonged, in our none-too-chubby bank account.
Just when I thought it was all over, a good nine months later, today a check shows up in the mail, a check for $20.43. Apparently, the breakdown explained, that was $20 for what I paid on the charge I WAS NOT disputing, and .43 in interest. What the hell is wrong with the IRS, I ask you? I guess I should take comfort in the fact that not only did those lovely tax people have to fork over almost a whole 50-cent piece in interest, but between the hundred pieces of mail they sent me during the course of this debacle, they piddled away at least another good 30 dollars.
I have to say, however, that it doesn’t much comfort me. After all, those are my tax dollars at work.
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5 comments:
This happened to me...all except I actually did owe money. But not as much as they said. Interesting enough, my situation was a little easier, where we redid our math (i.e. included things I had left out), recalculated, and then said, "ok, we did forget that, but we only owe this, and we're only willing to pay this much in interest." so here's a check. Our letter was less threatening than their's but for some reason, they called it good.
I hate dealing with IRS crap. I recently received a letter saying I hadn't paid state taxes for the past ten years. Problem was I had only lived in the state the past four years. Apparently the amount of salary a person makes that has to pay taxes changed and suddenly my part time job put me in the tax payer category. Only problem was the rule was not prorated so it didn't matter what I made that one summer at the mall. It took forever for me to track down old records only for them to say, oops, our bad. GRR!
How incredibly frustrating. I'm glad this has all been cleared up for you.
I would have lost my mind and would probably have sent something much less pleasant (ie, poopy diapers) to the IRS than a check for $20. Thank goodness it seems to be over now. Geez...
With how much postage costs these days, it's no wonder our taxes are so high.
What a huge pain! that would have bothered me for so long. Glad it's over and done with for you!
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