I spent NINE hours on the phone today with the IRS. NINE hours. I talked to four incompetent people and I was disconnected THREE times and I wasn’t yelling at them! I was bending over backwards to be kiss their asses, actually.
Background:
We are just middle class folks who invested in some rental houses and a small apartment complex along the way instead of 401K’s. One of the houses burned down in 2016 and in 2017 we had two years to rebuild or reinvest and for 2019 taxes we claimed the capital gains. We paid a chunk and they penalized us for paying late. We had to pay a total of $31K for that year which seems unbelievable for people who don’t make much money. When I hardly knew where to turn (I couldn’t access anything online because they said the address was wrong –it wasn’t — and I couldn’t make an appointment in person) I was feeling homicidal. But finally at the witching hour, at 8 p.m. I got a guy in customer service (not even collections or “exam” which meant the FIRST person I talked to at 1:30 p.m. could have helped me), told me they had already waived interest and penalties. Then he asked me what was up with 2019. We had also filed an amended return because my husband had made a mistake on the K-1’s. So he was able to transfer that refund to our balance and voila, instead of owing $10K more, we only owed $5K more.
That might still seem like a bad day, but after nine hours on the phone and four or so morons, I wanted to kiss this guy. It IS shocking how many incompetent people are working in this government.
So, it is no longer hanging over my head. Though it has pretty much wiped out Christmas for this year. If we get that week off and go to Maine. I haven’t been out of this house for more than a few hours except for a doctor appointment in two years. We almost made it out for a weekend, but Dad had an episode last summer and we had to come right back. We’ll be far gone, so they will have to deal with emergency people without us this year. He’s doing better though. He has a ventilator at night (like a c-pap with mask) and is on an antibiotic all the time and that has seemed to smooth things out a bit. So we are hopeful.
I am going to find some nice cool drink to sip and kick back now. Happy Thurs.
L.E.K. 
$31k…facepalm! And after wasting your 9 hours, they really owe you another 5 grand haha. Sorry to hear about it, but glad it’s over and you need to worry about taxes only next year. And your dad will be just fine😊
I know. It’s awful. They haven’t officially accepted what this guy did transferring what they owed us on another year to the disputed year that got it down from almost $10K to the $5K and they haven’t cashed the check yet, either. But we hope we are done with them. And yeah, Dad has been doing a bit better. No trips to hospital in about six weeks or so. I have hives though from an antibiotic for a stomach ailment, so do keep a good thought! Ha. 🙂 Happy Monday (or Memorial Day if you celebrate). Not sure where you are hanging. I appreciate the support!