My IRS Story

I owed money to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) this year. Not fun. With a lot going on, instead of going to the post office and getting some type of delivery receipt, I simply put the payment in an envelope and mailed it from a neighborhood mailbox on approximately March 15th. 

My wife signed up for the postal service's daily digest. While I like the surprise of opening the mailbox and seeing what's inside each day, she receives daily emails with pictures of envelopes of what will be in the mailbox that day. It's pretty neat. On March 20th, she received a picture of the letter that I sent to the IRS. Immediately, I got concerned that maybe I used the wrong stamp and that it was being returned. However, the letter was not in our mailbox. On March 25th, we received another picture of the envelope to the IRS, and again, it did not appear in our mailbox.

Fast forward several weeks, and the check still did not clear the bank, and we never received the envelope back. With the April 15th tax due date quickly approaching, I called the IRS who confirmed that they did not receive the payment. I called USPS, and they had no idea where the mail went. So somewhere in the world, there is currently a check with our address and social security numbers on the check. Lovely.

I called the bank and cancelled the check. Then, I just paid the IRS online which is what I should have done originally. The payment went through on April 12th. Monday afternoon, I looked at my bank account online and saw there was a pending payment to the IRS. Of course, I thought, the check arrived and is being processed. I contacted my bank who said that this was a second online payment. While I have no idea why there was a second payment, the bank cancelled that transaction. The mail/check is still a mystery.

Based on my experience this year, I think I just won't pay the IRS again. I'm sure that will be fine for everyone involved!

EARLY JUNE UPDATE:

It's still not over! Since my post nearly two months ago, I received a check in the mail from the IRS. The online system processed my payment twice, and although I cancelled the second payment with my bank, the IRS did not receive the cancellation. Therefore, they sent me a refund check for the second payment. In talking with an IRS representative, instead of just ripping up the check and being done with it, I need to cash the check and send another payment to balance everything out. This is apparently easier than the process of ripping up the check. 

Since that phone call, I received a letter from the IRS indicating that they received the initial check (about 4 weeks after I mailed it and after the April 15th deadline) but that they could not cash it since the check was cancelled. I'm just ignoring that one. 

If you're scoring at home, I have now paid the IRS by check and sent two payments online (though the system processed it three times). I have cashed a check and cancelled two payments through my bank. I really hope I'm done now.