Last week I continued the saga of my client, call him John Smith, who has been waiting and waiting to receive his 2020 tax refund. His 2020 federal return was selected for identity verification; he successfully completed that process in March 2023. His refund, though, is nowhere to be seen. Mr. Smith is not desperate for the funds (luckily, he’s a successful businessman); however, he’d like this resolved.
This morning, I ran yet another IRS Account Transcript to see if there had been any progress with this. Unfortunately, his return does not show as having been processed. Yes, the agent I spoke with in August said to allow nine weeks so this isn’t surprising. But what of my request for the IRS Taxpayer Advocate?
Crickets. I haven’t heard a thing (nor has Mr. Smith).
Meanwhile, interest continues to pile up on this which you and I are paying for. To date, the interest totals over $4,000; if the refund is issued exactly a month from today there will be another $241 of interest. And I’m not particularly hopeful this will be resolved by the end of October.
I’d love to state that this is a one-off in dealing with the Identity Protection Unit and the Taxpayer Advocate. It’s not. I dealt with a similar case last year with the Identity Protection Unit; it took nearly a year to get resolved. (In that case, my client owed tax–which he had paid when he filed the return–but he needed that return to be in the IRS computer system for another matter.) I strongly believe that the ancient IRS computer systems (the main IRS computer system dates to 1959 and, yes, you read that correctly) has a lot to do with the issues.
I’m also disappointed with the Taxpayer Advocate Office. Yes, I know they’re buried, but no acknowledgment, no nothing means I’m stuck. Now as a tax professional I know how to deal with this situation. (If in a month if nothing has changed I’ll be making more phone calls.)
But consider Joe and Mary Doe who are not familiar with the IRS. They desperately need their $20,000 tax refund…and they’re stuck in limbo. If they did exactly what Mr. Smith did, they would have done everything correctly…and be stuck in limbo. If you wonder why there’s frustration with the IRS, and why members of Congress have IRS liaisons, look no further.
The next update on this saga will be in a month (unless Mr. Smith magically receives his refund or I hear from the Taxpayer Advocate).
Tags: Identity.Protection.Unit