IRS. Round 2
Back to the sad saga of my battle with the IRS.
To recap: The IRS received a 1099 and a w-2 form from a company claiming that I had received monies from that firm. The IRS matched that firm’s claims against my tax return for 2003 and discovered that I did not claim that income. The reason I did not claim that income is that I never received that income. Here’s where things get fuzzy, the IRS believes that is my responsibility that I did not receive that income. How can you prove a negative? I think this is some kind of logical fallacy.
I contacted the IRS and I managed to find the company who claims to have paid me. I actually got an explanation from the company that sent the IRS the 1099 and w-2 forms. It seems they did cut a check to me, but they then cancelled that check. Further in 2005 this company sent me another check to cover the amount of the check that was not sent in 2003. Got it?
So, I sent the IRS a letter detailing my phone conversation with the company in question. The IRS sent me a letter back saying, “We read your cry-baby whining-ass letter and deem it insufficient to change our minds. – Love, the IRS.” Maybe it didn’t say exactly that, but close enough. And of course “Love” is the polite term for the physical activity the IRS advised me to take. Once again, I paraphrase.
So now I have contacted the firm in question 3 more times to try to get their customer service people to send some kind of proof to me that they did not send me a check in 2003. I am still waiting.
In the mean time, I decided to call the IRS again to see if I could at least talk to someone with a little empathy for my situation from his/her side. I know and knew before I made the call intellectually at least how things would go. I suppose I had fooled myself into thinking that there was a human being on the other end of the telephone. I was wrong. Maybe this person is mentally challenged. Maybe the IRS hires sociopaths to work their customer service phone lines. I don’t know. But Maria Andersen and her coworker Michelle are totally incapable of human emotion. Thank goodness the IRS does not engage in any discriminatory hiring policies.
What I really want of course is for the IRS to leave me alone and for me not to have to defend myself. I don’t expect that to happen. I would be satisfied if Maria or Michelle would simply say, “You’re being screwed. I’m sorry.” But I’m not allowed to have that either.
The worst part about this is of course coming face to face with your own impotence. There is no threat I can make to the IRS. They don’t even care about my little blog where I say bad things about them. They just don’t care. They don’t have to. I can’t force the IRS to do anything. Yesterday I came face to face with just how impotent I am in the face of this random and capricious beast. It felt bad.
Happily it didn’t hurt the IRS one bit.
To recap: The IRS received a 1099 and a w-2 form from a company claiming that I had received monies from that firm. The IRS matched that firm’s claims against my tax return for 2003 and discovered that I did not claim that income. The reason I did not claim that income is that I never received that income. Here’s where things get fuzzy, the IRS believes that is my responsibility that I did not receive that income. How can you prove a negative? I think this is some kind of logical fallacy.
I contacted the IRS and I managed to find the company who claims to have paid me. I actually got an explanation from the company that sent the IRS the 1099 and w-2 forms. It seems they did cut a check to me, but they then cancelled that check. Further in 2005 this company sent me another check to cover the amount of the check that was not sent in 2003. Got it?
So, I sent the IRS a letter detailing my phone conversation with the company in question. The IRS sent me a letter back saying, “We read your cry-baby whining-ass letter and deem it insufficient to change our minds. – Love, the IRS.” Maybe it didn’t say exactly that, but close enough. And of course “Love” is the polite term for the physical activity the IRS advised me to take. Once again, I paraphrase.
So now I have contacted the firm in question 3 more times to try to get their customer service people to send some kind of proof to me that they did not send me a check in 2003. I am still waiting.
In the mean time, I decided to call the IRS again to see if I could at least talk to someone with a little empathy for my situation from his/her side. I know and knew before I made the call intellectually at least how things would go. I suppose I had fooled myself into thinking that there was a human being on the other end of the telephone. I was wrong. Maybe this person is mentally challenged. Maybe the IRS hires sociopaths to work their customer service phone lines. I don’t know. But Maria Andersen and her coworker Michelle are totally incapable of human emotion. Thank goodness the IRS does not engage in any discriminatory hiring policies.
What I really want of course is for the IRS to leave me alone and for me not to have to defend myself. I don’t expect that to happen. I would be satisfied if Maria or Michelle would simply say, “You’re being screwed. I’m sorry.” But I’m not allowed to have that either.
The worst part about this is of course coming face to face with your own impotence. There is no threat I can make to the IRS. They don’t even care about my little blog where I say bad things about them. They just don’t care. They don’t have to. I can’t force the IRS to do anything. Yesterday I came face to face with just how impotent I am in the face of this random and capricious beast. It felt bad.
Happily it didn’t hurt the IRS one bit.
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