What’s All This Then!

Almost $12,000! At least that’s my estimate right now. I don’t know how I missed this, but yet it happened. My CPA was supposed to be taking care of this. But this time last year, I was finishing up a five-year divorce battle and a major down and dirty with the IRS. Somehow this detail got lost in the avalanche of events of this past year. That is until today.

To get my freedom from the wicked witch of the West, I had to over-pay the IRS. My CPA assured me that he would be able to get the money back and pay my 2005 tax bill. Here I am a year later. My CPA forgot or lost track or is incompetent — in any case, I never got my money back. The tax bill is waiting.

So in February I went to the bosses of the IRS — Congress. I wrote to my peeps: Richard Burr, Bob Etheridge, and Elizabeth Dole. Apparently, I matter to Ms. Dole only during election time because I haven’t heard a single word from her. On the other hand, Mr. Burr and Mr. Etheridge immediately answered my correspondence.

Today I received an interesting package from Senator Burr. It contained my tax account transcripts and a letter from the IRS to Senator Burr. The letter basically said they were sorry that they overcharged me but that they were within their rights to keep all the monies. So I spent the day going through the transcripts. Not only did I find where they did not credit a couple of my payments to them, but I also discovered that they mistakenly keyed in my 2001 return. I had brought this matter up to my CPA two years ago. He said that he would take care of it and I trust him to do so. If he did so, no one in the IRS took care of it. That in itself is a $12,000 error in my favor. I’ve also learned in this fight with the IRS that, not only can they charge you interest, but they also have to pay you interest on money they don’t refund in a timely manner. If they follow their own procedure, I will be a very happy man. Of course, if they had followed their own procedures to begin with, I would not have begun a battle with them 10 years ago. Oh well, you know the creed of tax collection agencies everywhere: “if we can bring one little smile to one little face today — then somebody slipped up somewhere.”

If you’ve ever wondered what happened to the bullies that terrorized you in school, rest assured. They’ve gone on to professional status. Some work for criminal organizations. And the rest try to legitimize their actions by working for government tax collection agencies. Thank goodness we live in a free society….