NOTE: I wrote this post in 2013, so be aware of its age.
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I’ve been telling the story of Wendy Boka and the identity theft nightmare she’s going through with the IRS. Her husband Brian died at age 31 in 2010. Someone stole his identity and filed a fraudulent tax return in his name.
On August 1, 2013, the refund check from the IRS for that 2010 tax return finally arrived in Wendy’s mailbox.
Brian and Wendy were native Iowans. After Brian died, Wendy — a widow at age 29 — moved to Texas. The names are real and are used with Wendy’s permission.
You can read the other parts of this series here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
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It’s over! It’s finally over!
On Thursday, August 1, Wendy received a check in the mail from the IRS for her 2010 income tax refund. We didn’t start celebrating until after she took the check to the bank on Friday and it got deposited with no problems.
The bank did accept the check and we can now call this unfortunate case “closed.”
850 days.
Two years, 3 months, 28 days.
That’s how long it took the IRS to process Brian and Wendy’s 2010 tax return.
I tried submitting the e-file on April 11, 2011. It rejected because someone had already filed a return using Brian’s Social Security Number. This set off a series of ridiculous misadventures with the IRS that has finally ended now. I won’t itemize all of the extreme IRS incompetence in this blog post, because the sordid details can be found in the other 17 parts of this series.
At least it’s over.
I’ll probably do a few more wrap-up blog posts on this topic. And Wendy and I will both be sending letters to our Congressmen.
In the meantime, it’s time to celebrate!
Jason, I would seriously consider sending a certified letter summarizing these events (with documentation, if the client approves) to the IRS Commissioner, with a “carbon copy” to the IRS Taxpayer Advocate’s office. This is inefficiency at its worst and it should have been rectified a long time ago.
That’s a good thought. I’ll add the commissioner to the list of people I need to write letters to about this. I was stunned at how long it took, and how uncaring the taxpayer “advocates” were about the situation.
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