$1000 from the IRS

[otseng]

You get a letter in the mail from the IRS. It says you made a mistake on last year's IRS return and you overpaid $1000 and that a refund will be arriving shortly. You are fairly sure that you did not make a mistake since you used a computer program to file the return.

What do you do? (BTW, this actually just happened to me. )

[Corvus]

I would feign ignorance and gladly accept the money. That money would not be used immediately, but kept in the bank until enough time has passed that I would be certain the taxing agency wouldn't ask for it back. Yes, that may seem sneaky, but our welfare agency here in Oz has overpaid some people and then asked for it back a year later, when the money is gone.

Would I be regretful? No, probably not. I doubt that missing $1000 is causing any suffering or concern to any other individual, which is my test for whether an action is ever good or bad.

[RobGuitar333]

I would give the money back with a reasonable explaination of what happened. However, there is also the variable that i really did make a mistake. But to be sure, I would send it back. I could not live with myself if i didn't. Oh yea, this is to Corvus: it is not a question of if a person or family desperately needs the $1000, but more if that is right. I would say it would be wrong.

[NuclearTBag]

Come on the government has cheated plenty, now it's my turn to cheat them, see how they like it.

[mrmufin]

You get a letter in the mail from the IRS. It says you made a mistake on last year's IRS return and you overpaid $1000 and that a refund will be arriving shortly. You are fairly sure that you did not make a mistake since you used a computer program to file the return.

What do you do? (BTW, this actually just happened to me. )

After weighing my intense dislike and distrust of the IRS with the need for governments to raise revenue, I'd probably do the following:

1) Make a few photocopies of the letter. Keep the original, as well as its envelope, in a very safe place.

2) Carefully review your tax records for the filing year in dispute, preferably with a competent accountant.

3) Send, via certified mail, a copy of the letter the IRS sent to you saying you overpaid by a $1000, and a letter stating that your review of your tax records doesn't suggest that the additional refund is warranted. Also, ask them to review your tax records and show you specifically where your error is.

4) Don't cash the check until the IRS recognizes that you're not sure why you're getting the refund and is able to point to a specific error that you made in filing.

This was a tough call for me, and my gut drives me toward the sentiments expressed by NuclearTBag. I also know that the IRS has more lawyers, guns and money than I do and could make my life incredibly miserable just for capitalizing on their incompetence and/or oversight.

Regards,
mrmufin

[ST88]

I agree with Corvus. Accept the money, but make sure you can pay it back if it's ever called for. I would imagine that there would be more paperwork and trouble involved for the IRS if you were to report it as an overpayment than if they initiated the recall of the money, and it would be more trouble than it's worth in any case. This could be a sliding scale of acceptability in terms of the amount of the check. What if the check were for $10,000? I think I might give that one back.

Also, don't rule out that the software could have been wrong and that this was a common experience with other users.

As for cashing the check, I think there's a time limit on the viability of such checks, so I wouldn't hold onto it for long before I cashed it.

[turtleguy]

lol, i would take the money the irs has to much of it anyway

[TQWcS]

What if the glich gave you a 1,000 but charged someone else that 1,000?

[søgende]

the right ting to do is to send the mony bag.

would I do right ?

[Furrowed Brow]

There was a story in the papers a few years ago here in the UK. A bank mistakenly deposited quite a large sum of money into a woman's account. She figured it was too large a sum not to get noticed. So she rang the bank. Someone at the bank told her no it was not a mistake.

At this point the woman obviously let greed get the better of her and she started to spend the money. Just as the bank realised their mistake and demanded it back.

It all landed up in court. I can't remember the outcome. I think the woman had to pay it all back (not sure), because there was no record of the phone call.

This is what I would do. I would write to the bank/IRS. I would explain that according to my calculations they had made a mistake. I would give them a reasonable period of time - say one months to confirm they wanted the money back. If I did not hear anything back in that period then I would accept their calculation as correct.

I’d send the letter recorded post.