Complaints About Tax Agency Abound
Dear Ann Landers: Michael Dolan, acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, certainly did a snow job on you. His Problem Resolution Program is a joke. I have been dealing with the IRS in Massachusetts for over a year, and the people there are so incompetent and lacking in professionalism that I cannot believe it.
After a mountain of paperwork and hours on the phone, my problem still has not been resolved.
Their toll-free line can drive a person crazy. It is busy most of the time. If, by some miracle, it is not busy, and you manage to get through their automated system, the people are rude and insulting. One woman actually hung up on me.
Please don’t use my name, Ann. Everyone I know is already aware of my opinion of the IRS, but I don’t want to take any chances. - C.K. in Concord, Mass.
Dear C.K.: I have been swamped with letters from readers who share your low opinion of the IRS. If anyone from that agency would like to respond, I will be happy to give them this forum. Keep reading for more:
From Long Island, N.Y.: Dolan’s letter to you is a bunch of baloney. When I read your column about how the IRS has a Problem Resolution Program, my spirits soared, and I called with my complaint. (It took the IRS four years to notify me of a $14,000 problem.) With the four years of interest and penalties it heaped on, the “problem” came to $96,000.
The attitude of the people at the IRS was insulting. They said it took four years to “catch me” - as if I were a criminal. Then, they said there is nothing the IRS can do about my problem, which they acknowledged, because of “congressional laws.” In other words, they passed the buck. What can you say about an agency that takes four years to discover a problem and soaks you with horrendous interest?
Exeter, Calif.: Ann, I can’t believe you are so naive to have bought the song and dance of that IRS commissioner. Why don’t you wake up and smell the coffee? I have worked with the IRS for the last five years and am ashamed to admit that it has turned into the Gestapo.
The IRS targets poor people who don’t have the resources to hire a CPA and tax attorneys. Small sole-proprietor businesses with losses are almost guaranteed an audit. If you question the audit, the agents subtly threaten to audit you for several years down the road. If you give in and agree to pay rather than incur the expense of fighting, the agency heaps on huge penalties and interest.
The IRS has become a monster. It scares people into paying whatever it says they owe. Please tell your readers if they have any legitimate complaints pertaining to how they have been treated in an audit or collection procedure, to call, write, fax or send a telegram to their congressperson now. If they don’t know who their congressperson is, they should phone the public library and find out.
There will be new hearings soon on restructuring the IRS. For anyone who wants to register their comments, the House Republican Conference Web site can be accessed at: http:/ /hillsource.house.gov.
Dear Readers: To be perfectly fair, I must tell you that I have been audited, and the IRS people who came to see me were competent and thoroughly decent. Maybe the auditors in Massachusetts should come to Chicago and take a few lessons. (P.S.: I didn’t owe the IRS anything. In fact, they owed me a few bucks.)