This is the story of Wendy Boka’s saga with identity theft and the IRS. Her husband Brian died in January 2010 and someone stole his identity and filed a fraudulent tax return in his name. We’re still trying to get the IRS to sort this mess out — all these months later.

The names are real and are used with Wendy’s permission.

You can find out more about Wendy at her blog, http://www.wendyrebuilding.blogspot.com/.

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Read the previous parts of this story: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

The person I talked to at the IRS in mid-May was confused about what was going on. I had to explain (again!) about the identity theft, that it was Brian’s identity that had been stolen but that he had died and the notices were being sent to his surviving spouse, Wendy. This seemed to boggle the mind of the IRS representative. They couldn’t understand why I was calling on behalf of Wendy when it was Brian’s identity that had been stolen.

After a ridiculous amount of re-explaining everything I had told them at least three times before, the collections department agreed to place another 60-day hold on further collection actions against Wendy.

I was told — again — to call in 60 days and “update them on what’s going on.” And again, I was told to call before the 60 days were up if we heard anything from the identity theft unit.

Of course, the 60 days came and went with nothing happening. There was another phone call with the IRS in July, which I’ll talk about in Part 6, but still no resolution. So to summarize: Brian died in January of 2010. Wendy moved to Texas that year to try to rebuild her life. And here we are, almost 31 months later, and Wendy still has no official closure because of this mess.

This is the story of Wendy Boka’s saga with identity theft and the IRS. Wendy’s husband Brian died in January 2010. After Brian’s death, someone stole his identity and filed a fraudulent tax return in his name. We’re still trying to get the IRS to sort this mess out — all these months later.

Brian and Wendy were native Iowans, but Wendy moved to Texas after Brian’s death. You can find out more about Wendy at her blog,  http://www.wendyrebuilding.blogspot.com/. As time allows, Wendy will share her thoughts about the identity theft mess on her blog.

The names are real and are used with Wendy’s permission.

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Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

The first notice from the IRS came in late December, 2011. The notice said that Wendy hadn’t filed a 2010 tax return and that the IRS would take collection action against her if she didn’t file the return immediately.

She had, of course, filed a 2010 tax return. I had talked to the IRS about this in August. We had sent them the forms they requested. But now they were saying she hadn’t filed a return.

So I prepared a letter in response to the notice, and mailed it to the IRS. I knew the IRS had received the letter because I sent it certified mail with return receipt. But as usual, we heard nothing back from the IRS … until another notice came in mid-March.  The IRS was again threatening to take collection action against Wendy unless she filed her 2010 tax return immediately.

So this time I called the IRS. The collections department was now handling her case, so that is who I talked to. They had no idea about the identity theft. I had to tell them the whole story, from the beginning.

Apparently the conversation I had with the IRS practitioner hotline in August wasn’t documented in anything the collections department could see. And apparently the IRS’s identity theft unit doesn’t talk to the collections department, either.

I asked about the letter I had sent to them in response to the December notice. If they had read that letter, it would have explained everything.

I was told that they had received the letter, but it hadn’t been processed yet. They received the letter in early January. This was the middle of March. Apparently it takes the IRS 9+ weeks to open the mail….

On the bright side, I did get the collections department to put a 60-day hold on further action. I was supposed to call again in mid-May, when the 60 days were up.

They also told me that if I heard anything from the identity theft department in the meantime, I was supposed to call and let the collections department know. Obviously the various departments at the IRS don’t communicate with each other, so I had to act as middleman.

But of course, the 60 days passed quietly, with no contact from anyone at the IRS.

This is the story of Wendy Boka’s saga with identity theft and the IRS. Her husband Brian died in January 2010 and someone stole his identity and filed a fraudulent tax return in his name. We’re still trying to get the IRS to sort this mess out — all these months later.

The names are real and are used with Wendy’s permission.

Wendy and Brian were native Iowans. Wendy moved to Texas after Brian died. Wendy maintains a blog, http://www.wendyrebuilding.blogspot.com/, where she talks about the struggles of being a young widow. As time allows, Wendy will be blogging her thoughts on the identity theft saga as well.

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(Find Part 1 of the series here.)

When the e-file for Brian and Wendy’s 2010 tax return rejected, I assumed I had done something wrong, or that the software had done something wrong.

The printout of the rejection said Brian’s Social Security Number had already been used on a previously filed 2010 tax return. I once had an e-file reject because, instead of typing in the person’s Social Security Number, I entered an employer identification number from a W-2 instead. That was embarrassing, but easy enough to fix.

After I received the rejection notice, I double- and triple-checked Brian’s SSN. It was entered correctly.

So I assumed my software messed something up, and I submitted the e-file again. And again it rejected.

I called Wendy and told her what was going on. I asked her to call the IRS and see if they could tell her anything.

They couldn’t. In fact, the person she talked to just told her, brusquely, that she’d have to file the return on paper if we couldn’t get the e-file to go through.

So we filed on paper. This was mid-April, right before the filing deadline.

Months passed.

Wendy was owed a refund from this IRS, but the refund never came. In fact, no correspondence came from the IRS at all.

By August, I decided it was time to rattle the IRS’s cage. I had Wendy sign a power of attorney form and I called the IRS.

I was informed that in order for them to process the return, they would need a special form filled out (Form 14039) and a copy of Brian’s death certificate.

I don’t know why they didn’t tell us they needed these things at some point in the four months between when we filed the return and when I called.

I helped Wendy fill out the Form 14039, and she had to open up painful memories by finding Brian’s death certificate. By this time, Wendy had sold her and Brian’s house in Iowa and moved to Texas to try to put her life back together. This sort of thing was the last thing she needed.

But we sent the paperwork to the IRS, and then waited for a response.

And waited.

And waited.

Nothing at all from the IRS.

(This is the first of a multi-part series on one taxpayer’s saga with identity theft and the IRS. I am using the taxpayer’s real name, with her permission. In fact, the taxpayer is going to be blogging about the saga, too.)

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Brian Boka was my best friend. We met as roommates our freshman year at Simpson College. We shared many crazy adventures in college, most of which I can’t talk about on a public blog. Let’s just say we lived the typical college life!

Brian and his wife Wendy were my very first paying client. I started my firm in January 2009 with 3 clients. Brian and Wendy were client #1.

I prepared Brian and Wendy’s taxes and met Brian at Rock Bottom Brewery in West Des Moines to return everything to him. This was March of 2009.  I didn’t know that this would be the last time I would see Brian.

There were a few e-mails throughout the year, but that meeting in March 2009 was the last time I would actually see Brian alive.

He died suddenly in January 2010. He was 31 years old.

He left behind his wife, Wendy, who became a widow much too soon at age 29.

Wendy remained a client after Brian’s death, and my role as accountant became more important than ever, to help guide her through the tax aspects of all the financial things that needed done after Brian’s death.

Neither one of us knew that we would still be dealing with Brian’s taxes all these months later.

But we are, because someone stole Brian’s identity after he died and filed a fraudulent tax return using Brian’s name and Social Security Number. This has made a big mess for Wendy and me to deal with.