Tot Would Prefer Treats Over Refund

Three-year-old Max Rosen isn’t even old enough to collect an allowance, much less pay income tax. The Internal Revenue Service sent him a refund check anyway - for $219,495.

“The longer we have this thing, the more I expect to start seeing girls lining up at the front door,” said the tyke’s father, Neil Rosen.

Neil Rosen, a Pittsburgh lawyer, said he and his wife, Jan, thought at first that the letter addressed to their son meant they had miscalculated the taxes they had paid on savings held for their son.

Barbara Zivkovich, an IRS spokeswoman in Pittsburgh, said disclosure laws barred her from commenting on Max’s check. But she explained that the agency issues at least 75 million refund checks annually and said an occasional computer glitch is inevitable.

When Rosen opened the envelope, he said he was shocked at finding a piggybank-bursting check inside.

He phoned the IRS right away but had a hard time convincing them the government had made a mistake. After passing his call from one department to another, workers finally suggested that Rosen write them a letter to explain what happened, he said.

In the meantime, Rosen said he’s scrawled “VOID” through the check and stored it in a safe place.

Young Max will never see the money, but he’s not complaining, his father said.

“It means nothing to him,” Rosen said. “The thing that would make him happiest right now is some ice cream before bed.”