IRS Can't make up their mind help please

[schmidty]

My wife has been going round and round with the IRS for four years now. Every 6 mo she gets a call from and agent telling her she owes money for her 1995 taxes. That year she was seperated from her husband who was living with another women. He claime his kids and his girl friends kids and the IRS nailed him and took their money back. Her mom claimed the kids and she also got a notice from the IRS and gave the money back. My wife had claimed the kids. They said they sent her a letter asking her for more paper work after they had paid her out. She supplied more information and never heard anything again. Every year she files she sends them a copy of her divorce decre and every year they send her a letter and she has to send it again. 5 years ago they attached her wages over the 1995 matter. She contacted them and they told her that they sent another letter which she never got and because she had changed names (married to maiden) they didn't know where she was. But she files with the same social every year. Any ways she has had 6 different people tell her to send in all her information to them and this would be over. They say that they made a mistake and she should not owe of have to give back her money. We've gotten some people say she could not claim head of household but earned income credit. Some say she could claim both. We have spent hundreds in making copies. Even sent the last batch by certified letter. We just got a call the other day and agian the agent wants the paper work. We need serious help and I'm sure if we can afford a lawyer. Any advise would help.

 

[abezon]

Congratulations. You're stuck in IRS purgatory. You need to get to someone high enough up to change the computer records & flag your file as resolved so no one will bother you on this matter again. the problem is your case keeps getting assigned to a random employee every 6 months & THAT employee has not seen any documentation & asks for it again. You need to get your file assigned to one person. Be sure to get a name & employee number. It's amazing how IRS workers stop losing paperwork once they know you have their name & number & their supervisor's name & number.

The taxpayer advocate's office was created to deal with just this sort of problem. The have an 800 number on the IRS web site. You could also try calling your Congressman. If a member of Congress calls the IRS about a mistake the agency keeps making, your file gets red flagged as a "Congressional interest" file & often gets you kicked up to a second level employee who has more than 2 working brain cells. Finally, you could try to find an enrolled agent to help you deal with the IRS. This option will cost money, but is cheaper than a lawyer.

 

[schmidty]

Thank you

We are going to start with the advocate and if that don't work we will try your other suggestion. At least we don't feel so helplessly stuck in a rut.