OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

[dlneubec]

Many of you know her story, but for those who don't, just about 13 months ago her husband, a local police officer, committed suicide, leaving her with a 17 month old daughter. She had not worked since becoming pregnant. It was a very tough time for her and for all of us. We immeditately moved them in with us and proceeded to try and help her piece her life back together. Further bad news became apparent over the next 9 months. It looks like there's a good chance our gradndaughter may be autistic. She is recieving therapy from three different therapists, but has not been diagnosed, since they are still unsure if losing her father may have had some effect. What a load for a single mom to carry!

The good news is that the they have now moved back out to an apartment and she is working. Our granddaughter is a happy girl who loves to visit and stay over with us. My daughter now recognizes there is a full life ahead and has even been dating lately.

Now more recent bad news. She went to file income taxes earlier this year and discovered that someone had filed in her husbands name. She was aksed to send in birth certificates, marriage license, etc., which she did. She now has had three rounds of sending these types of things into the IRS (she has an accountant friend helping her) and now they are talking about auditing her! BTW, she is receiving social security income for her and our granddaughter, which required some vetting, a death ceritificate, meeting with local SS staff, etc. to obtain. You would think one branch of goverment would accept the vetting process of another and understand that she is who she says she is. She is working at a daycare, making not much more than minimum wage, barely enough to make it worthwhile paying for her daughter to be in daycare while she works.

She is very upset with this IRS situation. I'm really PI$$ED off that this is happening. All the while, someone is apparently scamming the IRS and able to convince them that my daughter is the one to be questioned. I'm unsure of what the best approach to suggest she take. Given what she's been through, it really bothers me that they are hassling her in this way. The last thing she needs is the extra stress this has caused, especially when she is just starting to move forward again.

Anyone have any suggestions? Hire and attorney? Call her congressman? Keep letting her accountant friend deal with it?

[isaeagle4031]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

Dan, I'm really sorry all this has occured for her and you guys. It may be the best option to have an attorney that specializes in IRS dealings along with the accountant. I've somewhat been down this road and that is what I had to do.

[billfitzmaurice]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

Anyone have any suggestions? Hire and attorney? Call her congressman? Keep letting her accountant friend deal with it?

Get a lawyer. Given her circumstances a local legal aid society would probably get her help pro-bono.

[DamonB]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

I'd recommend an attorney. The IRS is an enormous bureaucracy that is difficult to deal with due to its sheer size and lack of communication amongst its many internal departments.

My personal experience with them some years ago was atrocious. Long story short my tax refund was deposited by the IRS into someone else's account. It took another 4 months of weekly calls to prove that my records were correct and the IRS made the error. I could accept the mistake but even after the IRS realized their error it took another 6 months of running and constant follow up on my part to actually receive the funds! I made no error and yet the burden was always on my shoulders and the IRS was barely communicative. I was at the point of asking myself exactly how much my time was worth and giving up. If the sum of money hadn't been so substantial I'd have given up and saved my sanity.

I'd recommend an attorney so that at minimum it is one less burden for your daughter to shoulder.

[Paul K.]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

Really sorry to hear this, Dan. Losing a husband, finding out your daughter might be impaired, and not being able to find a decent-paying job should be enough to bear! Yes, definitely get legal help, hopefully as Bill suggested so financial problems won't be compounded.
Paul

[PassingInterest]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

Contact your Federal congress person (not state) and ask for help.
Provide details, including the late husband's Social Security number and have your daughter sign a release, allowing all information to be released to the congress person.

[patrickm]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

probate laws vary from state to state, but if she's the legal executor/administrator for her husband's estate, also fill out the IRS (i think) 4506T fiduciary form, declaring her as his fiduciary. request copies of his prior returns, which i doubt will have matching signatures from his old ones. the audit in this case isn't necessarily something to be afraid of -- ultimately, the IRS should know where it's mailed checks or sent electronic deposits, so identifying the scammer or at least the fact of a scam is a real possibility. but getting an attorney is a good idea to navigate the process. you may also want to meet in person with the local IRS office once the fiduciary issue is sorted out.

[NickJ]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

The lawyer (but only a tax lawyer in the state where the taxes were originally filed) who would do it pro-bono is a great idea. If it isn't pro-bono it probably isn't worth it. Being audited in her case would not be the worst thing in the world. The issue with dealing with the IRS (I have an unresolved issue with the MA irs equivalent), is the vast disorganization as people who you only talk to for 5 minutes on the phone fail to communicate effectively with one another. Having someone come out, hear the story, and get the requisite documents from her in person is likely to be a fairly straightforward and painless process compared to what she has already gone through with them.

People over the phones are usually dicks, people in person I usually find are pretty easy to deal with.

As for the congressman idea it is worth it only because it costs you nothing but a postage stamp and 15 minutes to write a letter. I think given election season coming up (and the fact that this is a federal issue), that contacting the Obama administration campaign people might be more effective, but could also put her in the media spotlight if they actually do pick it up.

Regardless of what you do, I will keep my fingers crossed for painless resolutions in the near future.

[Tin_Ears]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

I have nothing good to say about any branch of any government. I'm very sorry about your and your daughter's troubles. There is no quick/easy answer. BTW, I work for a branch of the military.

[winslow]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

I manage a H&R Block office during tax season, the main thing with dealing with the IRS is getting the person's name, extension, and number. If you call back and speak to someone else, you are likely to get different answers. I see things like this on the regular. Usually the information requested will clear things up. And accountants don't always know taxes...or how to deal with the IRS. I fix and even do returns for CPAs.

[pnoneal...]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

Dan,
I also recommend a lawyer. I had an incident where the VA said they overpaid me and sent it the federal collection agency. The VA sent all the letters concerning this matter to an address that I had lived at while in the military over 10 years ago. You think the IRS is rude, try talking to a federal collection agency and get anywhere. They ended up tagging the collection to the IRS system and one year when I was expecting a sizable return I instead got nothing and a letter saying that I still owed such and such amount. Never even knew there was a problem until it happened.

I explained to them that I've been married to the same person all my life but they didn't want to hear it. I ended up saying screw it, not worth the hassel for 2k. Anyway, got sidetracked. You need a good lawyer and let them worry about it so you can move on and not have this rolling around in the back of your head. The gall of some people like that just amazes me. Good luck.

Paul

[dlneubec]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

Thanks for all the excellent advice, everyone! I have looked into the legal aide angle, which looks promising as well as attorneys that advertize pro bono work and found several.

Also, her congressman has a link on his website under "Contact Us" entitled "need help dealing with a federal agency?" and they have a local office here, so that will likely be pursued as well, just to see what comes of it.

The older I get the more disdain I seem to have for government agencies, though I have to say we were very happy when we found out that both our daughter and granddaughter were going to receive Social Security benefits after the death of her husband, so there's your double edged sword.

[LouC]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

Man, I'm sorry to hear this kind of story. Your daughter is probably not emotionally ready for the additional baggage. I was fortunate to have friends who forced me into dealing with damage control. Most people are overwhelmed when somebody passes away. The first thing I did was go to the bank and deactivate every credit card, debit card, computer login and autopayment on my wife's accounts and move most of the money out to savings accounts. Since deaths are public record, it's an opportunity for scum bags to engage in identity theft and these kinds of shenanigans.

I bounced this off a good friend who runs a masters program to teach the IRS their own tax code. His basic take was if you have nothing to hide, an audit isn't a big deal. The "deal with one person - in person" is also highly recommended. (Recently been through that with Social Security, once you get to a real person it was pretty painless) My personal tip: When you call these agencies, patience and a speaker phone with mute are your friends. I watched TV while on "hold". He also suggested reporting this as fraud/theft with local law enforcement.

If things get really bad, the news media are also a potential resource. Nothing like a sympathetic victim story to motivate bureaucrats. Especially if you can name names. It's an election year.

[billfitzmaurice]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

Also contact local TV stations. This is the type of story that investigative reporters love, and nothing gets the attention of bureaucrats faster than negative TV coverage. If the story goes national politicians up for re-election will be falling over each other coming to your aid.

[Whitneyville1]

Re: OT: Ideas on dealing with IRS (someone filing under daughters late husbands name)

Contacting your Federal Congressman and BOTH Senators via certified mail will only cost a few dollars and saved my sister (a similar situation, except an extreamly sudden medical death) hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyers/accountants/ CPA's/estate accountants' fees and probate fees and taxes. It was more than bad enough as it was. If there is identity theft (it appears) involved, contact the Federal Trade Commission IMMEDIATELY!!! I have a crook third cousin with a middle name different than mine and exactly one year to the day younger than I, who was writing bad checks and saying they were mine. Well, to make a long story short, 7 years in El Reno Federal Reformatory taught him the error of his ways, as he committed wire fraud buying a money order in my name (STUPID!). Have her keep copies of EVERYTHING. Make recordings of ALL PHONE CALLS ,if needed by your state, have her announce the call is being recorded, if they won't talk, HANG UP! She needs Caller ID and a Caller ID Phone and a little camera handy to take a picture of EVERY call made to her phone. She SHOULD'NT use a cell phone for "real" phone calls. Only "hard lines" are legal evidence in all 50 states and in Federal Court. "Hard line" calls can be traced by the phone company for several years, while cell calls are only recorded by the phone carrier until the bill is paid. (Judge Judy and my best friend who works for Verison/Sprint.) I'm so sorry. We went thru this in '83 and my sister has never gotten over it, nor my Mom and Dad and me. Please tell her to be very watchful too. These slime can turn violent or even deadly in a heartbeat. They are NOT just doing this to her! They may be "working" thousands of "marks" at any time, and there are often BILLIONS of dollars in play. Get you or your wife's name added as co-signatory's to her bank accounts. BE PARANOID, they are out to get her! Take care of her Daddy. I slept for over a year in my sister's motorhome in her driveway with two pistols and a shotgun, and fired on a car once at 4 AM. They weren't the ID thieves, but they were casing her house. The next Sunday I went and bought her a Heckler and Koch Model 4 .380, got her concealed carry permit and taught her to kill with it. In 4.7 seconds she can go from it in her "carry bag" to 7 rounds into a man-sized heart with Glazer Safety Slugs out to 75 meters. If you try to grab her, she'll shoot thru the bag. In 20 seconds, she can put all 7 rounds in a dinner plate at 200 meters at dusk. She has the trophies where she's won over the Special Tactical Unit (SWAT team) members with her tiny H&K with a 60mm barrel vs: their specially tuned laser sighted Gold Cups with 8.7" barrels.