On July 12th, I went to my local bakery/post office/convenience store to pick up the mail. There was a registered letter for me from the IRS, dated June 15th, saying that they intended to seize my property starting in 30 days. Only three days remained! I left email and voicemail for my accountant at H&R Block. There were no replies, but her secretary said she was indeed "in" last week. Although I gave my files to H&R Block on April 30th, they have never made contact with the IRS on my behalf. I can't blame them. There is something very wrong with this case.
As far as I know, the IRS complaint is frivolous. Accountants at two different firms have looked at my 2007 tax forms and cannot figure out what the problem could be. All the IRS has ever said is "Information on your return indicates that you are not eligible for the Earned Income Credit". But there is no such information on my return. The rules for EIC eligibility are clear.
Because the IRS is putting up this fuss, for no detectable reason authorized by law, the state of New Jersey is forbidden from returning to me the $4000 they withheld from the sale of my house, even though NJ has never claimed that there is anything wrong with my state return. The IRS used the stimulus payment to reduce their claim: they now want only $600. I claim that the stimulus payment and the refunds calculated for me by TaxAct.com add up to about $8500. That seems barely enough money to interest a tax lawyer.
The letter was addressed to me in Canada and mentions an 800 number to call, but the number doesn't work from Canada. Previous letters had included a 215 number to call. That number is specifically for ex-pats, so the IRS knows that callers are paying International Long Distance toll charges. It seemed to me that the IRS would either answer these calls very quickly (if they actually wanted to talk without wasting my money) or I would be left on hold forever (if the offer to chat was not genuine and they just wanted to drain my wallet). After 15 minutes on hold, on different days, with no indication given for how long the wait queue was, it was clear which way they were going with this.
The letter also mentions a PO box in Pennsylvania that I can write to, but I have written to such boxes before, asking the IRS to explain themselves. Yet every few months I receive a letter from them that says "you have not contacted us". Since their official records show that I have been ignoring them for a year, of course they should start property seizure now. "La la la, we can't hear you! Now we take your stuff!" It's like the entire Bush administration in a nutshell. But the Bushies are supposed to be gone now, yet the IRS continues to flog this case.
Also in the June mailing was a form I could use to contest the seizure, but I'm not going to file it. To use the form after 30 days, you have to check off the box marked "Equivalent Hearing", which happens to have the side effect of waiving your right to take the IRS to court. Also, the only permissible reason for contesting that you don't actually owe the money is "you didn't have any prior opportunity to disagree with the amount you owe", but this is a bone of contention!
Note that a reason like "the law clearly states that I don't owe this money" is not acceptable, even if it happens to be true. This is not about enforcing the law; this is about picking on people.
Why is this happening to me?
(Warning: conspiracy theory.) Back in 2003, I sent a request to the FBI for a "Statement of No Criminal Record" so I could emigrate to Canada. As I recall, during the wait for a reply I received an email from a former co-worker of mine, asking me to help him with some SIGINT work that I am qualified for. It would require getting a security clearance, which I've been avoiding for almost 30 years now. I told him that I was leaving the country, but perhaps I could get a clearance from Canada and help him via the UKUSA pact. There was some back and forth, but my replies were all variations on "No".
Then the emails stopped. Then the FBI rejected my request, which was supposed to be a rubber stamp: if a citizen has no criminal record, international law requires governments to issue such certificates upon request. But the FBI rejected my request, and then three more requests from me, until finally they admitted (2 years later) that I actually don't have a criminal record—which they had known all along. I think the 2nd rejection was my favorite, on grounds of "you did not sign your request". It was nice of them to return my rejected request, with my signature on it.
Even after the FBI gave in, there were more roadblocks. It ended up being five years from when I decided to leave the USA until I could actually do so. I studied Russian years ago and am familiar with the term "refusenik", but I had never expected to become one!
After arriving in Canada, I had a remaining duty to perform as an American citizen: to file a tax return for my last year in the States. I had a bad year and I said so on my return. But it was rejected on nonexistent grounds. I am offended by this flagrant disregard for the law. The IRS is supposed to enforce the tax laws, not to go around bothering people whose names happen to be on some spook's shitlist. And this time is worse than with the FBI—at least those guys acknowledged that I was trying to talk to them.
What the IRS is doing here is evil. They have arranged their rules and regulations for the aim of "winning" on technicalities and taxpayer exhaustion even when their original complaint is not merely wrong, but obviously wrong to any accountant who spends ten minutes on the case. Perhaps I can turn this evil into good somehow. I have some ability with words. Maybe I could write a really fine DailyKos post that states THIS IS WRONG with such forceful clarity that it actually motivates people to improve their world. But all I could manage was this post. We talk here at dK about how torture is evil and assassination squads are evil and refusing to provide health coverage is evil. There are even occasional comments about how the FBI has been participating in evil. But the IRS? Not so much.
You can help!
I am looking for:
- Your horror stories of being hounded by the IRS for no reason. A colleague recently told me that the IRS wanted to fine him for paying late, even though they had deposited his check before the deadline. He had to pay a lawyer to force them to concede something that they already knew from their own banking records. Just how widespread is this bullying?
- Tips on how to hone my message to get the word out better. Which parts of the story should I cut?
- A tax lawyer. Who would want this case?