I used Turbo Tax to pay my taxes this year. I finished up and payed what I owed by EFT on the 15th, 3 days before it was due.
For a couple of weeks after that I watched my bank account to make sure that it came out. When it wasn’t taken out after a couple of weeks I decided I was going to call them and ask them why they hadn’t taken my payment. Before I did that I received a letter from them informing me that the bank could not find the account. This was of course all computer generated and their systems interpreted whatever code the bank sent them as “unknown account”. The account exists, other payments have been coming out with no problem, and there’s more than enough in it to cover the payment so I’m not sure what happened.
Anyway, the letter included a 1040-V and instructions for making a payment by check, so I did so. Shortly afterwards, my online account showed that they had cashed the check. My checking account had been debited by the correct amount and the online check image shows that it was cashed by the U.S. Treasury. Fine, problem solved. I’m done with it.
So today I get another letter from them informing me that my IRS account has been erroneously credited with the amount I owed and paid and that they have removed the credit and I still owe them the money. The money has not been put back in my bank account.
So I’ve paid it, they’ve taken it out of my account, and are now trying to fucking double bill me. And it’s not some piddling amount. If it was two or three dollars I’d probably just pay it again because it’s not worth the effort. But this is definitely worth the effort.
Goddammit! Get your fucking shit straight. Now I’ll have to call you, wait on hold, send you a copy of the cashed check, and hope against hope that you fucking finally get it straight this time!
Turbo Tax exists. Hence, such a nice interface is possible. So, why is it that in 2011, I couldn’t log on to irs.gov and answer a few questions, and type in an account number, and have it all done in one hour?
I absolutely agree that most of us should be able to file our taxes online directly with the IRS. (And state taxes.) I’m perfectly happy to file online, but I’m not going to pay yet more money to a third party to do so. Until I can file online directly with the IRS for no further cost, I will continue to shove my paperwork into an envelope.
As to the OP, good luck and be patient. It took me six months to get my cable company to recognize that a check they’d credited for 18-something was actually correctly written and cashed by my bank as 88-something. I can’t imagine the government is going to be any more prompt.
I don’t mind using TurboTax. My taxes can be complicated. They were especially so this year. I’d probably pay more for an accountant or H&R Block. I’ve never had a problem with Turbo Tax before. They may have screwed up my first attempt at payment somehow, I don’t know, I should contact them and see if they can shed some light on that part of it.
But that’s not what really has me pissed. What has me pissed is that once I finally did succeed in making payment, and having that payment accepted by the IRS, they turn around and reverse the damned credit without even explaining why or returning the money.
Sounds like you could use a good tax lawyer. Someone ruthless and unencumbered by douchey concepts like “morality” and “ethics.” I can’t think of anyone right now, but I’ll keep you posted.
I hope I don’t need a lawyer. We’re not talking about 10s of thousands of dollars. If I have to pay for too many hours with a lawyer it could end up being a Pyrrhic victory.
I spend my life fleeing from taxes and snow. In truth however, I do not mind paying my taxes, but does the process have to be so stressful and complex? My British friends seem to have their tax taken out of their paychecks and that is just about that.
I had a lot of complications this last tax year. I have an online business plus I did some contract work. Also, one of my employers didn’t send me a W2 because they went out of business and the CEO has been indicted for running a ponzi scheme. If all I had to worry about was a normal paycheck from a normal law abiding company then it wouldn’t have been so complicated.
Honestly, this is a situation where I would have absolutely filed a paper form. That would have allowed me to stuff into it a statement of my income, and tax withholding, and “my employer went bust”, and “this is based on my last payroll stub (copy attached) and is true and accurate”, and a signature.
I hope you understand my point was that if TurboTax can do it, then why can’t irs.gov? I wouldn’t be surprised if TurboTax lobbies hard to keep the IRS so technologically primitive.
Don’t worry buddy, you don’t need a tax lawyer, and I don’t know of a single one that would take your case. It’s just a computer error, it’ll get worked out eventually. This isn’t that big a deal really.
