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Last Year's Income Tax Problem - Asking for Advice [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-17
I used to help my parents with tax returns when I was young. Filing Commerce Clearing House inserts wasn’t the best way for a 6 year old to gain work experience, but everyone worked tax season, and that means you, too, Missy.
The worst experience I ever had with the IRS (until this year) was showing up in their office and being first in line, and told to “take a number.” 20 minutes later I was still sitting in the waiting room, with my plastic Number1, while nobody else appeared. I smell a power play.
This year, I think I have a worse problem, and my first instinct is to write the IRS a letter informing them about what a fiscal year means. Honey died this year not last year, therefore I don’t have to declare his demise until 2025 taxes are due.
I file our tax return. On time. (Shout out to Turbo Tax for sucking $216 out of my bank account with no refund in sight, and no help offered.”)
And then I wait. And wait. The IRS sends me a notice to mail them a death certificate, and I comply. I would really like to have that refund...the adjustment to the amount of Social Security was the loss of my entire check, as well as the “caregiver allowance” provided (it’s .41 cents an hour for 24/7 nursing care) has left me feeling well…...broke. And broken. Spending 44 years together isn’t always a picnic. And I miss him like fire. I am also missing about $800/mo.
They sent us a Death Notice letter that was answered promptly. The IRS said that they would respond in 4 or 6 weeks after I submitted the required documentation. We are waaaaay beyond that now. I did not get a refund. Instead I get a request for a paper copy of our tax return. Why? So they can claim he was dead before he signed it? (Not true.)
Excuse me, but I filed electronically and now you want a paper copy of our return? I feel abused. A paper copy of our return? Print it out yourself. It’s not like you don’t have it. Stalling on an epic scale.
So here it is, almost the end of July and I still have no tax refund, even though I have complied with every ludicrous request they’ve made. Was it because I’ve been out picketing? Was it something I said online? I’d love to ask, but when I call them on their proffered Helpline, nobody answers. Ever.
Where’s my money? You think his having cancer twice was cheap and I don’t need that money? Cancer is expensive; we owe about half a million dollars to various medical providers, and I’d like to pay at least some of it off, without having to share the same can of cat food as our cats.
Is there anything I can do to expedite this Quite Late refund? I need part of the money to get someone to take the dead tree out of our front yard before it snaps in the wind and I’m liable to have to replace a $25K window. It’s homeowners insurance, not landscape insurance. Feeling pretty desperate here, so I thought I’d come ask the smart people what I could do.
Suggestions? Or just hang on and try to adjust my bad attitude?
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