The IRS and I

Last April, having completed my very simplistic tax statement, I printed it up and sent it to the IRS along with a check for the relatively measly amount I owed them.

Around July (okay, I'm slow but sure) I decided to ask them why they had not cashed the check.  At the time I wondered if maybe I hadn't included my SS number on the check itself--that alone is enough to fling a spanner into the whole works.

The IRS sent me a letter stating that both the check and the tax filing form were lost.  They told me I didn't have to do anything at that time since within 45 days they would contact me again with more information.

More information said that the items were still missing, that the IRS had a considerable work load (read "horrendous backlog") of similar problems, and I didn't have anything I needed to do at that time.

By this time it was November.  I cancelled the check I had originally sent, wrote a new one, included a copy of the original tax return, a cover letter listing the items included in the envelope, and shot it off to the IRS.

Last week (and quite a while after noticing the check had been cashed) I received a letter from the IRS telling me they had received the check but that I still owed them a tax return form!  It was in the same envelope, folks! 

Two days ago I sent yet another print-out of my tax return, but my blood runs cold.  I can see myself still trying to file for 2011 when it is time to file for 2012.  Not only that, but I cannot prove, beyond circumstancial evidence, that I ever sent that first check and tax return, so I also contemplate with horror the idea that I may be charged interest and sanctions and a staggering portion of the national debt load. 

I am certain that the amount I paid in taxes was a lot less, by far, than the cost of writing back and forth to me and searching for my original documents.  And just think--I'm an honest taxpayer.  If such a complete snafu can take place with such an unimportant taxpayer as I am, what happens with dishonest people who try to take the system for all it's worth?  If government spending needs to be reduced and income increased, the gov could start by making the IRS a functional entity.  How much does it cost to process thousands upon thousands of screwed-up tax returns, lost statements and checks?  There's something loose in the offices of the IRS and it aint Albert Einstein...