Wonders never cease

Last Wednesday I filed our federal income taxes online. Thursday I received an email that they had been accepted. That in itself is a miracle. The last two years I was unable to file online because the IRS denied the return claiming my social security number was incorrect. What the heck people, don't you think I know my own SS#, I mean I've only had it since 1975!

In January 2009, after several phone calls to the IRS and sitting on hold for what seemed like decades, I finally talked to an actual person....only to be told that I needed to talk to the Social Security Office. Evidently the file they provide to the IRS did not match the number I gave them and SS would have to send a correct file to the IRS.

I just couldn't wait to call SS and see how long it would take to get this cleared up. After several hours, yes HOURS

I am not exaggerating

HOURS of being on HOLD

I finally talked to someone who was quite friendly but not very helpful. According to this guy the number they had on record matched the number I had entered on my return. "Yes, that's your social security number (duh!), I'm sorry ma'am I'm not sure what their problem is."

I wanted to reply "their problem is they are run by the US government" but decided that since I was talking to another government agency it might not be such a good idea. Dejected, I hung up and went back to the original pain in the a$$ government agency.

Long story short, (aren't you glad?) they said "too bad. so sad, you're going to have to mail it in and wait six to eight weeks to be processed." And that made me so HAPPY because it wasn't like I needed my REFUND so I could pay the %^^& tax we owed to the state of Georgia.

Giving up the fight I mailed my return in and began weekly checks on the IRS'  "Where's My Refund" site. About two weeks in the status read "Your return has been received." The following week "Your return has been delayed due to an error," and finally THREE weeks later "Your return has been accepted and will be processed by xx/xx/2009 (I can't remember the exact date). On that date I checked once again and it said that my refund should be deposited into my account on xx/xx/2009.

Guess what! xx/xx/2009 came and went and no refund in my checking account. This was a Friday. On Monday, you guessed it, still no refund. I pulled out the phone and called "where's my money?" "Nooooooooooooo, don't put me on hold. Pleaaaaaaaaaase, don't you know how long I've already been on hold?" Three days later when she finally came back on the line I heard "I'm not sure what the problem is ma'am. We show that the refund was direct deposited on Friday."

I, very nicely (yes I was being nice, I promise), asked if she could verify the banking information. She agreed and proceeded to give me the routing number. Yep, that's correct. Now for the account number. What? Can you repeat that? Lady I don't know what that number is but I can guarantee that is NOT my account number. IT WASN'T EVEN CLOSE! "Oh my, I'm not sure what happened here but don't worry. Once the bank rejects it, it will be sent back to the IRS and then we'll issue you a paper check."

WHAT? First of all - how do you know it will be rejected? What you've done is deposit MY money into someone else's account. They're gonna be really happy to see a couple thousand extra dollars in their account. What makes you think they're going to report it? And lets just say they do, and the bank returns it, why do I have to wait even longer for a paper check? That's all I'm going to say here but will admit that I did say quite a bit more to the IRS agent.

And you know what happened....two weeks , yes TWO WEEKS, later, my paper refund check came in the mail. What a nightmare.

Last year, ever the optimist, I once again completed my taxes online and with great anticipation hit "SEND."
That night I received an email that my return had been submitted. Yay! And then the next day, "Your tax return had been denied for the following reason: incorrect social security number for spouse."

Nooooooo! Here we go again. To avoid further aggravation I verified my account numbers for the refund in BOLD, printed out the return, and popped it into the mail. For five looooooooooooooong weeks I waited and finally got the good news....your refund is being deposited xx/xx/2010. And you know what, last year they got that part right!

So, you can imagine that this year it was with baited breath that, still being an optimist, once again I hit the SEND button. I received the usual message stating the return had been successfully submitted. And then Thursday came and YES! It's a MIRACLE!!!

I got the message - YOUR RETURN HAS BEEN ACCEPTED

Yahoo!

And the very best part.....

Today, Yes, today, THURSDAY, exactly  ONE week later.....my refund is in my account. Yes, I'm doing the happy dance because ...

the government agency

FINALLY got it right! Wonders never cease.