Crisis averted

[stocky]

So the mailman came today with 3 letters for my wife. Each one claiming she owed the government money, total was just shy of $30,000. After about an hour on the phone it turned out to be a computer error thankfully. But was the worse timing two days before Christmas to receive that type of letter. It turned out it was all because of a missing tax file number.

Anyway vent over. Anyone else have some near miss stories they'd like to share?

 

[tommythecat]

Nothing so major as that...

I filed bankruptcy a little over 7 years ago. I have not owned any property (land/house) since then. Early this year I get a letter from the IRS stating that I owe them for miscalculating my tax owed on my 2011 return. The discrepancy came from a debt that was cancelled and not reported as income. I don't know about any of you, but I have NEVER had a creditor just up and say "fuck it, you don't owe us anything!" I file with the 1040EZ form so there are no itemized deductions or anything like that. Seriously, a retarded chimp can fill out a 1040EZ form correctly (no offense to retarded chimps everywhere, especially those posting on this forum ).

The creditor that supposedly cancelled the debt was HUD (Housing and Urban Development). I have never had any dealings at all with HUD. I haven't owned a home since 2007 so there is no way in hell that they cancelled a debt for me in 2011 (almost 4 years after filing bankruptcy). The kicker is that I never even got an explanation as to what happened. I called whatever office I was supposed to call and the lady told me they would submit an inquiry and if they don't respond withiin 30 days the case will be tossed. It took them 4 years to file a claim against me, so I wasn't worried about the 30 days. I told this to the lady I spoke with and she agreed with me that I shouldn't worry about it. Sure enough I get a letter about a month and a half later that says the case was dismissed due to lack of response from the IRS.

I just wish I could have got more information as to what the hell happened. The amount I owed was around $400 so like I said, nowhere near the scare you got!!

 

[stocky]

Yeah I've had a few wtf moments from companies claiming I owed them money. One was for $150 from an old electricity company. I had changed companies but still had gas through them, one day I accidentally paid my gas bill to the wrong acc and got a letter saying it was overdue. When I rang up they informed me I had an outstanding bill that's was 4 years old. Couldn't show me any proof or explain why it had taken them 4 years to inform me. Took a week for them to credit it to my gas bill and cancel the electricity bill after calling consumer affairs.

Man government agencies and large companies piss me off.

 

[DrStrange]

Be extra careful about the tax notices. Just because someone tells you something on the phone does not mean it is fixed. You have no defense if you get bad/wrong/uncorrected things over the phone. You will want that in writing.

As for my close call - - - my bank reported I took slightly over $1,000,000 in cash out of the bank in one withdrawal, did not tell me this, just sent in the paperwork to the government. Years later I get a visit from an unhappy man with demands for a huge tax bill on my "unreported" million dollar withdrawal/income and a warning that DEA is coming for everything I have left if I can't prove a legitimate source for said million dollars. Bank owns up to the mistake right away - - they had never ever had a million+ dollar cash withdrawal and were happy to say so in writing. no one ever explained how they could make reports like that - ones that were so obviously in error. (even though that was a decade ago, I still keep the full file of paperwork because I worry. . . just in case)

DrStrange

 

[grandgnu]

Be extra careful about the tax notices. Just because someone tells you something on the phone does not mean it is fixed. You have no defense if you get bad/wrong/uncorrected things over the phone. You will want that in writing.

As for my close call - - - my bank reported I took slightly over $1,000,000 in cash out of the bank in one withdrawal, did not tell me this, just sent in the paperwork to the government. Years later I get a visit from an unhappy man with demands for a huge tax bill on my "unreported" million dollar withdrawal/income and a warning that DEA is coming for everything I have left if I can't prove a legitimate source for said million dollars. Bank owns up to the mistake right away - - they had never ever had a million+ dollar cash withdrawal and were happy to say so in writing. no one ever explained how they could make reports like that - ones that were so obviously in error. (even though that was a decade ago, I still keep the full file of paperwork because I worry. . . just in case)

DrStrange

 

[Mr Tree]

So the mailman came today with 3 letters for my wife. Each one claiming she owed the government money, total was just shy of $30,000. After about an hour on the phone it turned out to be a computer error thankfully. But was the worse timing two days before Christmas to receive that type of letter. It turned out it was all because of a missing tax file number.

Anyway vent over. Anyone else have some near miss stories they'd like to share?

Good God, who needs a heart attack like that just before he holidays. Very happy to hear it got cleared up.

 

[Milo013]

Good God, who needs a heart attack like that just before he holidays?

Perhaps his wife upgraded the Insurance Policy, and was looking for some extra cash?

 

[Mr Tree]

Perhaps his wife upgraded the Insurance Policy, and was looking for some extra cash?

Lol I have a life insurance policy that makes me worth more dead than alive. I always joke that that means every day I wake up and my wife didn't smother me in my sleep is an act of love.

 

[Milo013]

Either that or she hasn't yet figured out how to make it look enough like an accident to get away with it. I am in the same boat . . . and every once in a while I notice a "look" in the wife's eyes that says, "you are worth precisely ____ pairs of shoes . . . don't push your luck."

 

[BGinGA]

Well, although he looks a bit strange, he doesn't much look like a doctor....

 

[links_slayer]

Got a bill for ~$425k following my surgery, ICU stay, and hospital stay in 2013. That was a fun one to get. We were more than relieved when we got a statement with a $0 balance a couple days later after insurance took are of everything. Not sure why they didn't just wait but oh well. Those were some fun phone calls for my wife to make on my behalf.

 

[stocky]

Wow Josh. That takes the cake.

 

[links_slayer]

Wow Josh. That takes the cake.

I definitely didn't complain when writing the checks for the ~$500 in co-pays for post-op related stuff.

And that $425k doesn't even include radiation. I shudder when I think about how much insurance was billed for that....*gulp*