The IRS and Addresses (and a Bit more)

reveurgam (60)in #irs • 5 years ago (edited)

The IRS amuses me. And confuses me. They reformed the tax code but I don't feel like it got any easier. In fact, it seems harder for most people that would've used the 1040EZ. The instruction booklet is not intuitive enough and you have to read through almost all of it to figure things out, plus research and ask questions, if you have an interesting tax situation (like mine).

In April, I sent them form SS-8 to contest my ex-employer claiming I was a consultant. I was first hired as a temp (for 3 months), then told a month later I was perm. At no time during my employment did the executive director tell me I was not an employee. In fact, she denied she'd brought me on as a temp and that I'd always been perm. The response from IRS employees when I asked what I should do about my employment status ranged from "File an SS-8" to "so what?" Yay.

In fact, whenever we discussed it, she always referred to me as an employee. On one occasion, I asked permission to tell volunteers/interns that I was the only employee, and she said it was up to me. On another occasion, she said "consultant" and then IMMEDIATELY corrected herself to "employee". She deliberately deceived me about my employment status, from the time she offered it until the time she terminated it, and then she denied she'd terminated me. She never gave me the W-4 to fill out, and never withdrew taxes but, in virtually every way that matters according to Wisconsin and IRS rules, I was an employee. Then, to my surprise, she filled form 1099-Misc (stating that I was a consultant). I politely asked her to correct it but, not only did she not respond, she sent my request to her lawyer with a refusal of that and all other points I'd asked to be rectified (owed salary, copies of my time records, etc.).

Maybe you're wondering why I didn't ask about the W-4, the lack of payroll stubs, or the withholding of taxes. Truthfully, aside from being forgetful, I had been gone from the US for 15.5 years and I'd never worked at a non-profit before, so I thought that either things had changed or that the rules were different for charities. Yeah, I know what you're thinking now: "You should've asked." Water under the bridge and a learning lesson.

In letters to the Dept. of Workforce Development, whom I had to file with to get my outstanding salary, she not only refused to release my timesheets (daily activity reports that included dates and times) and time cards, she repeatedly lied profusely and defamed my character, including getting two other volunteers to lie, too. Happily, none the other volunteers did NOT lie about me. On top of that, she lied and claimed that a third party that I liaised with on GAB's behalf (per her instructions) had complained about me and didn't want to communicate with me. This was refuted by the co-founder of that person's organization. I have changed the executive director's name to "{ED}", the place I worked at to "{org}" and my contact to "{contact}" in this quoted email to maintain the privacy of relevant parties. In addition, my ex-boss has threatened litigation for telling the truth, claiming defamation of character. If I could reveal the whole truth without having to be worried about being sued for being honest, I might not do it because my beef is with the ED (and the two volunteers who shamelessly lied about me), not the organization, which I want to be successful because the mission and vision are important. But how does one publicly shame people without getting sued and without destroying the organization they help?

It was inappropriate for {ED} to use hearsay as {contact} never said that. {ED} did ask {contact} to write something stating that {org} doesn’t have employees, but I told {contact} [not] to get involved. So don’t take what I said personally as we don’t want to be involved. I can tell you that as it pertains to {contact} she doesn’t feel that way. I protect my staff as they have enough on their plate and I need their energy to be focused on getting people jobs. The questions they are asking her to answer are to determine if you where an employee or contractor and the small snippets I saw she didn’t do a good job proving her point. No hard feelings just keep us out of this and {ED} will be asked to do the same as we don’t know if you were an employee or not.

Thanks Glenn

Ultimately, despite her deceptions, the DWD found in my favor and, despite mighty protestations, the ED paid what they said should be paid (but never released my time records). But I digress from the point of my story. Back to the IRS!

Then I sent in my 1040.

Apparently, they sent a letter asking me to verify I am who I say I am, but I never received it, so my return has been collecting dust for 3.5 months. Wonderful.

I got a letter from them over the weekend that stated that they couldn't process my change of address (form 8822) that I sent before moving at the end of July. Why? Because the address they had on record (my dad's), the address they stated that I'd last filed a return from, didn't match the address I listed as my old one (in West Allis, WI).

That made me confused because I last filed in 2000, I filed from my home in Colorado, not my dad's, and I don't remember my address in Colorado. Additionally, I didn't file in Indonesia because I never earned very much (at most, about $1,300/month, which is a lot there but a pittance here). I think I forgot to file for 2001 but I doubt I owed them anything.

So, I called the IRS in order to get help. I found a good article on how to bypass their automated phone system and get a real person, which works every time. I'll give you a hint: after you choose your language - 2, 1, 1

The lady I spoke to indicated that the last address they had on hand was my dad's (which I'd used for mail so they wouldn't go to the dead letter file), which confused me more because I didn't file from there. I asked her how that could be since the letter had indicated the last address I'd filed from.

She then told me that when you change your address at the post office, that updates the IRS records, too. Huh?

I'm sure you can guess why that confused me. I asked her, "If changing my address at the post office updates your records, then why didn't the three address changes I've made since I returned to the US update your systems, too?" She didn't seem to be able to process that question, so I eventually gave up trying to get her to acknowledge the point.

She told me that I'd have to refile the 8822. She also informed me of the letter I'd never received to verify my identity, and said she'd resend it. She also finally said she'd change my address herself. While I was on hold, we were mysteriously disconnected, so I called back.

Nothing had been completed, it seemed. The second lady I spoke to managed to complete both of the tasks the first one completed despite being disconnected again (I attribute it to the wifi at my sister's house...that, or the Illuminati lol). She also told me to call Taxpayer Protection and explain my situation.

That's what I did. And that's how I know that I must prove my identity. It makes sense - I was gone for a long time. Maybe they rejected the address changes I made after I returned in 2017 because I could be someone else posing as me (despite showing proof of identity).

Hopefully, sometime in the next few weeks, I'll get that letter, then I can prove my identity to the IRS Taxpayer Protection department, get my SS-8 processed, get my employment status established as an employee, and finally get my tax return. At some point during that, I'll also have to file an amendment to show the outstanding salary that the DWD secured for me.

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