When can we admit the IRS needs to go?

[Veldan Rath]

Warning: Pure Anecdote!

Better Half and I filed our taxes back in January. E-file for my State and Fed, E-file for his State, but we had to mail out for his Fed as we claimed the Adoption Credit.

Of course, we got our e-file returns back pretty darn quick. But still awaiting his Fed return.

We got a notice saying March 21st was when we could expect it.

Then another for March 28th.

THEN a letter on Thursday advising that their was a discrepancy on The Boy's Name vs SSN and that wold need to be addressed or the return would be reduced by $2,000.00

In the same mail delivery, ANOTHER letter from the IRS telling us that the return was being held up due to missing information.

Better Half begins The Ultimate Painful Experience of Calling the IRS.

His first stop was just the confusion on the SSN. We had changed The Boy's last name at the court proceedings but we had not apparently advised the IRS of the name change. (Even though the adoption info was included in the return...thus the request for the credit??!!!?!!)...then the rep on the phone saw a note on the file, and transferred him to another dept.

Audit.

They advised that they needed documentation of the adoption as we were flagged for audit.

When Better Half advised that we had sent it in with the rest of the paperwork, she advised that yes that's why it was being reviewed for audit (duh) and her office needed a copy to review (duh)...when asked can't the other office/dept just send over the info (or a copy) her response was, in effect, that was the silliest thing she ever heard.

So, we might not see our $$$ till April/May.

No imagine the damn response if we OWED the government and we treated them this way and advised that we would need documentation AND more time to send them money?

[CitizenCain]

Meh, serves you right for paying taxes in the first place.

I can take a hint, and as I see it, they make it as difficult as they do to discourage people from paying taxes, so I'm happy to defer to their obvious intent.

[Veldan Rath]

Well, as Withholding (another horrendous act forced upon us) gives us no choice but to pay every week, I giggle at yer point.

The idea of the IRS is to make it harder to get your money (read: interest free loan) back because they have not borrowed it from the Chinese yet.

[CitizenCain]

Well, as Withholding (another horrendous act forced upon us) gives us no choice but to pay every week, I giggle at yer point.

Well, there are ways around that too, but I'm sure the feds will have something to say about it in the indictment.

The idea of the IRS is to make it harder to get your money (read: interest free loan) back because they have not borrowed it from the Chinese yet.

Heh, now there's the giggle-worthy point in this thread.

[Veldan Rath]

I try

[wiggin]

Warning: Pure Anecdote!

Better Half and I filed our taxes back in January. E-file for my State and Fed, E-file for his State, but we had to mail out for his Fed as we claimed the Adoption Credit.

Of course, we got our e-file returns back pretty darn quick. But still awaiting his Fed return.

We got a notice saying March 21st was when we could expect it.

Then another for March 28th.

THEN a letter on Thursday advising that their was a discrepancy on The Boy's Name vs SSN and that wold need to be addressed or the return would be reduced by $2,000.00

In the same mail delivery, ANOTHER letter from the IRS telling us that the return was being held up due to missing information.

Better Half begins The Ultimate Painful Experience of Calling the IRS.

His first stop was just the confusion on the SSN. We had changed The Boy's last name at the court proceedings but we had not apparently advised the IRS of the name change. (Even though the adoption info was included in the return...thus the request for the credit??!!!?!!)...then the rep on the phone saw a note on the file, and transferred him to another dept.

Audit.

They advised that they needed documentation of the adoption as we were flagged for audit.

When Better Half advised that we had sent it in with the rest of the paperwork, she advised that yes that's why it was being reviewed for audit (duh) and her office needed a copy to review (duh)...when asked can't the other office/dept just send over the info (or a copy) her response was, in effect, that was the silliest thing she ever heard.

So, we might not see our $$$ till April/May.

No imagine the damn response if we OWED the government and we treated them this way and advised that we would need documentation AND more time to send them money?

I don't know the details, VR, but AIUI name changes only work from the perspective of the IRS if they were done with the SSA. Simply doing a name change as part of, say, a marriage or adoption certificate will not matter from a tax perspective. The IRS just matches up names and SSNs from the SSA and that's it. So the, ah, 'boy', would have needed that for them to believe you. An annoying bit of trivia I picked up from a CPA friend the year I married, I'm afraid.

Of course, it's possible you did do this and they're just dumb. Best of luck sorting through this all - I've been feeling decidedly anti-tax lately after I really delved into the disaster that is the Massachusetts tax system (sadly enough, both Maryland and Illinois - hardly known for being straightforward - are walks in the park in comparison, and the feds are literally easy). I'm happy to pay the bill, I just feel like it should be easy for an honest citizen to sort it out.

Well, as Withholding (another horrendous act forced upon us) gives us no choice but to pay every week, I giggle at yer point.

The idea of the IRS is to make it harder to get your money (read: interest free loan) back because they have not borrowed it from the Chinese yet.

FYI you can change your W-4 from your employer to reduce withholding if you're confident you'll have a large tax writeoff for the year (such as a new dependent or a large credit). Theoretically the best situation - if it can be appropriately planned for - is to withhold exactly enough so that you owe the IRS the maximum allowed penalty free ($500?) at the end of the year. Sometimes that's tough to manage, though.