So I received a lovely letter from the IRS (Internal Revenue Service – the tax people for those of you live in Canada or not in the USA). The letter was very thick…it’s never a good thing to get a thick letter from the tax people. I rip the letter open, and it turns out that the IRS thinks that I made $20,000 more than I did in 2004. As a result, they are claiming I owe them $7476 in back taxes, $1495 in penalties, and $601 in interest, for a grand total of $9572. Egads. After some serious freaking out about visions of being thrown in IRS jail and other not so fun thoughts, I calmed down and tried to call the employer whose tax records have indicated that I earned $20,000 from (when, I actually only earned $200 for a weekend of pet sitting in July 2002 –weekend from hell but that is another story).
I followed the instructions in the letter the IRS sent me, stating that I did not earn that income and that I only earned $200. 36 days later, I received another very thick envelope from the IRS stating that I had not provided appropriate proof that I earned only $200. Again, another freak out panic session, with my husband assuring me that I would only be sent to a minimum security jail (he stopped joking about after I started sobbing uncontrollably). I called their help line and spent over an hour on hold, waiting for an agent, who explained I would need a letter from said pet sitter employer indicating I had only made $200.
I left a message for the pet sitter lady (who employed me for the weekend), and explained what had happened, and if she knew anything about it. I didn’t hear from her for two weeks. I got ANOTHER letter from the IRS stating that I would be sent a notice of deficiency (what an awful word) and that my case would be turned over to the Tax Courts. I finally heard from the pet sitter lady, who was on vacation. She mailed me a letter and I had it the next day (thank you thank you thank you nice pet sitter lady). I in turned fed ex’d that letter yesterday to the IRS showing her records and my records all stating the exact same thing…I earned $200. Turns out, it’s an IRS clerical error by someone in their data entry department. Ok fine, no worries I think. Except today I get the evil deficiency letter and my case has been turned over to the Tax Court.
I call again, today after work, and spend an hour on the phone with the lady who said the paperwork hasn’t caught up to my record yet, and most likely once someone gets that paperwork all will be vindicated and I will get a nice letter indicating the error had been corrected and I can go about my merry way and find something else to worry about.
Bah humbug to the IRS.
I followed the instructions in the letter the IRS sent me, stating that I did not earn that income and that I only earned $200. 36 days later, I received another very thick envelope from the IRS stating that I had not provided appropriate proof that I earned only $200. Again, another freak out panic session, with my husband assuring me that I would only be sent to a minimum security jail (he stopped joking about after I started sobbing uncontrollably). I called their help line and spent over an hour on hold, waiting for an agent, who explained I would need a letter from said pet sitter employer indicating I had only made $200.
I left a message for the pet sitter lady (who employed me for the weekend), and explained what had happened, and if she knew anything about it. I didn’t hear from her for two weeks. I got ANOTHER letter from the IRS stating that I would be sent a notice of deficiency (what an awful word) and that my case would be turned over to the Tax Courts. I finally heard from the pet sitter lady, who was on vacation. She mailed me a letter and I had it the next day (thank you thank you thank you nice pet sitter lady). I in turned fed ex’d that letter yesterday to the IRS showing her records and my records all stating the exact same thing…I earned $200. Turns out, it’s an IRS clerical error by someone in their data entry department. Ok fine, no worries I think. Except today I get the evil deficiency letter and my case has been turned over to the Tax Court.
I call again, today after work, and spend an hour on the phone with the lady who said the paperwork hasn’t caught up to my record yet, and most likely once someone gets that paperwork all will be vindicated and I will get a nice letter indicating the error had been corrected and I can go about my merry way and find something else to worry about.
Bah humbug to the IRS.
1 Comments:
I HATE it that someone can make such a simple mistake and really screw things up for you! And it really makes me mad when nothing you can give them is proof enough, although I'm glad to hear it sounds like your letter is going to be enough for you.
Scott got a letter in the mail a month after we sold his house and bought our new one, saying that he owed $1000 in school loans from nearly TWENTY YEARS AGO!!! And with interest and penalties it was like $3000. He had consolidated all his loans and paid them off a long time ago and had no clue what this was. And how the hell can they contact you 18 years later?!
He called everyone he could, wrote letters, dug up old payment records, etc but it didn't work. They sent it to a collections agency, dinged his credit score big time (which was great since we were in the process of finalizing our loan for the new house) and had to pay it anyway. We were both beyond angry.
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