Some things are not fair. About two years ago I received a letter from the IRS that told me they were questioning some income that they say wasn’t reported on my 2019 tax return. Yes, it was two years after the return was filed and the taxes I owed that year were paid – I’m not sure, but I probably paid estimated taxes that year – which, in my opinion, isn’t fair because the government gets my tax money way before I file the return that tells them how much I owe them, or they owe me, that particular year. When I received the letter I called my accountant (still in Cold Spring) and explained the letter. I sent the accountant a copy of the letter so they could respond. The accountant sent the IRS a letter with a copy of the page showing the reported income – the accountant told me not to worry about it. A while after that letter and proof were sent, the IRS sent another letter that told me they hadn’t had time to look at the response, and that it would take up to another 90 days for them to find time – so I was stuck waiting. Now, understand, the IRS was telling me I owed nearly $7,000 with the tax, penalty, and interest. I may be wrong, but I believe the interest they wanted me to pay was calculated from the date of the return, which means that before I even was aware there might be a problem I was expected to pay two years’ worth of interest, which is one of the unfair parts of this problem. I asked myself why it’s fair that I am expected to pay two years’ interest when it isn’t my fault the IRS is so far behind. Sometime, long after the 90 days, I received another letter from the IRS that told me, again, that they still hadn’t had time to check my reply and proof, and that it would be another 90 days before I could expect their response. This happened four times and spanned nearly two more years. All the while I was being told not to worry, they’d get it figured out. Don’t get me wrong, I trust my accountant implicitly, but I still had this $7,000 bill hanging over my head and I knew I wouldn’t be able to relax until the IRS told me my accountant was right. The next letter I received from the IRS was a demand for payment. I had less than a month to send them the money they said I owed. Naturally, I called my accountant and then sent them a copy of the letter and I was told they would attempt to contact the IRS. A couple of days later I received an email from my accountant that told me they had spent a full day jumping through hoops and dealing with dropped calls until they contacted an IRS agent that was sent the information my accountant had sent nearly two years earlier. That agent told my accountant the IRS would dismiss the penalty and interest, but a small portion of what the IRS had called unclaimed income would be taxable and I could expect a response in about two weeks. Right about two weeks later I received the response that told me I owed $52 – that check was in the mail that same day. With the help of my accountant, that problem was solved and I was hoping not to hear from the IRS for a long while. Then another letter came. That letter told me I needed to call to confirm my identity. The letter came from the Taxpayer Protection Program. I called the number the letter gave me and was put on hold. The recording I was forced to listen to told me I could confirm my identity online and gave me the website address. The recording also told me I could expect to be on hold for 30 to 60 minutes, so I went to the website and tried my best to complete the steps required to confirm my identity. I figured I had nothing to lose since I was on hold anyway. Long story short, my identity couldn’t be confirmed online so I had to wait for an agent. I waited and waited, and waited. After two hours of waiting, I gave up and figured I’d try again on the next business day. This column is being written on Sunday morning, so I can’t tell you if I was successful in getting through to the IRS to confirm my identity. One thing that seems pretty clear to me is that the IRS either needs more employees, or it needs to address more serious issues. They, of course, don’t know that I’ve always been honest with my filed returns, but I have to believe there are bigger issues for that division of our government to work on other than a nearly 68-year-old retired person who has filed his returns and paid his taxes every year, including the years after retiring.
Have A Good Week!
