In addition to JohnHenry"s excellent recommendation, here's a link to the IRS taxpayer advocate.

advocate 

Roberta 

I've been trying to get a problem corrected by the IRS for my (disabled) son's 2005 return for the last 8+ months.

It went from a phone call, to a visit to the local IRS office, to the taxpayer advocate's office - all to no action taken.

I finally gave it to my congress representative about 3 months ago.  Last week, I received another "threating letter" from the IRS saying that they are going to attach his wages (he's on SSD) to pay the "past due amount & fines".

The congressional rep's office (whom I would think are on "closer terms" to a federal office) has also not been able to resolve the issue, since the IRS won't return their query's.

This after reams of documentations were sent (regular mail), sent again (certified mail), and finally faxed (via the congessional office).

I would not hold much hope for anything related to the IRS these days.

BTW, the "problem" occured due to my son's withdrawl on a Roth IRA (federal taxes already paid) for living expenses before the age of 59.5.  He was declared disabled by SS in 2001 (autism) which will not allow him to work in a "normal work situation", even though having a BS in computer science.  His SSD was based upon his work history through HS/University.

The problem occured when he took the withdrawl from his Vanguard Roth.  Vanguard coded the disbursement as a "normal Roth distribution" (rather than caused by his disability, per current IRS rules).  The IRS took the full amount and added it to his gross income for 2005 (again, it was a Roth, not a traditional IRA - the taxes were already paid), and "charged" him the 10% pre-59.5 age "fine", even though documentation of his disability (hey, SS found him disabled - that's why he's on SS & Medicare).

Sorry for the rant - but anything related to IRS (including the advocate office) sort of get's me "upset" these days.

And yes, even though I've been trying to contact SS (as another contact point), I've been sitting on hold for 30 minutes, then getting disconnected.  On "good days", they disconnect me immediately (they must know who is calling...)

- Ron

Well Ron?  IMO that might Help...

1. IRS/SS job is to " Delay, Delay,Delay"...LOL..

2. If it's financially worthwhile? Get a Tax Attorney's Opinion

3. Do you have a CPA (Firm)? Or at least use an Enrolled Agent?

4. I don't Depend on My State or Fed. Respresentatives ( Congressman or otherwise)

5. Is your Son's SSD $ on Auto Taxes Deduction plan? Mine is.

6. I never Bother to call My SS office, only if I get a Letter and Their Direct Phone #

7. I go with Emails, then Reg. Mail ( and keep copies)  and then? In Person, by appointment only..

8. Is Your SS office in a Major City? Try another Office outside of the County..(the Next County)   I was told to use The Nearest Major City for me ( Milwaukee) but after having the same kinds of problems, I went to Janesville instead and got & get alot Faster  Service.

Hope this helps..

Thanks everyone for the suggestion of calling my congressman. I had called him 2 years ago and he helped me with a passport issue.

I will call and see if he can help me.

Ron, I wish you the best. Your situation is certainly more difficult than mine. I hope you can get some results soon.

Jeannette

We had issues with the IRS also.  We also tried contacting them, the calls to our house of Rep office., etc., We also mailed to them certified copies of the corrected tax return.  Also did a sit down conference with 2 of their reps.  This took 8 months and more aggitated days and nights than I could explain.

IRS sent us certified mail stating that we owed $89,000.  And that our only recourse was to file in US Tax court in Washington DC.  We live in the state of Washington.  Not exactly around the corner.

In desperation we visited a local CPA who is known in the community to be able to handle difficult tax issues.  Well within 5 weeks everything was settled and we received a letter from the IRS stating that the issue was resolved and thanking the CPA for submitting the necessary paperwork.  The paperwork...exact same paperwork that we had submitted prior.  The CPA has access to an IRS confidential FAX number.

So fixing this problem happened but we paid in excess of $525.00 to the CPA.  Makes my blood boil.

Good luck to all who go down this road.  They sure dont make it easy.

Jeannie

The so-called stimulus checks are actually an early rebate on your 2008 income taxes which you won't file until next spring.  The law says that you get to keep what they've already given you regardless of next year's return.  If you qualify for more than they sent you this year, you'll receive credit for the difference on next year's 1040 form.  I know you probably think that sucks, but I'll bet that's what they'll (eventually) tell you when you get through to them.

Of course, if it turns out that their calculations are right and your calculations are wrong, you won't get any more credit.  There are alot of obscure conditions written into the law that weren't covered in the press releases.  For example, did you know that dead people can qualify for checks?  Maybe they'll buy graveyard headstones with the checks.

In typical fashion, when Congress and the President passed this stimulus law, they didn't realize how many phone calls it would generate.  The IRS has no more people answering phones than they did at this time last year when no one had ever heard of a stimulus check and thus no one was desperately trying to get through to the IRS with questions about theirs... 

DJ

I don't understand your reasoning. Why would I have to wait until next year to get the stimulus refund that everybody else got this year, if they were entitled to it.

I only got a partial refund because the IRS claimed that I had not paid the taxes that were due before April 15th of this year. I have a cancelled check from my bank CASHED by the IRS exactly for the amount that was due.

So, I would expect the IRS to send me a check to correct THEIR error. In fact, I think they should pay me interest on it :-). OK, maybe I am dreaming about the interest !

Jeannette

Reduce your withholding or estimated tax payments?

Here's a compromise suggestion.  Rather than spending all of your time on hold, why not ask your human resources dept. for a W-4 form and reduce the income tax withholding that's being deducted from your paychecks so that you'll get the rebate you believe you're owed on the installment plan over the next 4 months?  If you do estimated tax payments, you could subtract what they owe you from your next quarterly payment.

Read the small print on the front and back of the W-4 form before you hand it in to make sure you don't get a penalty for underwithholding.
 

Or else, you can just keep doing what you're doing.  Good luck with that. 

Jeannette: This is an easy one.  It happened to me three years ago.

 You filed a paper return in April; I filed a paper return in April.  You wrote a check; I wrote a check.  Your check was cashed right away; my check was cashed right away.

 In my case, I got a letter from the IRS in August asking for a payment that equaled the check they had cashed.  I called the number on the letter and got through right away.  A very helpful worker looked up my record.  My record showed that my check had been cashed and the IRS knew I had made a payment.  However, this was known to the left hand of the IRS.  Meanwhile, the right hand of the IRS was looking at my tax return and noticing that I owed $5000.  Apparently when you file a paper return and write a check, the check is cashed the day it arrives but the paper return has to be entered by hand.  That can take several months.  When the return is entered by hand, the payment record is not matched to the tax return record.  The matching can take many months; typically the match doesn't occur until September.  Meanwhile, the computer looking at the return record in August spits out the letter showing taxes still due.

 
Simple, right?

Al