‘The grossest incompetence:’ IRS took 850 days to clear ID theft victim’s name

quote:

---

Watchdog.org

‘The grossest incompetence:’ IRS took 850 days to clear ID theft victim’s name
by Paul Brennan
August 14, 2014

INDIANOLA, Iowa — Jason Dinesen smiled politely and shook his head when asked about a new bill in the U.S. Senate that aims to improve how the IRS handles cases of identity theft by assigning one agent to deal with each individual case.

RedTape-Iowa“I’m skeptical about the bill. Having an assigned contact person is a good idea in theory, but it’s not going to do much unless there are some other major changes at the IRS,” Dinesen told Iowa Watchdog.

Dinesen, an accountant, knows firsthand about what changes need to be made. One of his clients had a refund delayed by identity theft, and it took Dinesen 850 days to resolve the problem.

Wendy Boka wasn’t just any client. She was a close friend and had been married to Dinesen’s college roommate, Brian Boka. Wendy and Brian were Dinesen’s first clients when he opened his accounting firm in Indianola.

Brian Boka died in early 2010, leaving Wendy a widow at age 29. She moved to Texas in December 2010 to start a new chapter in her life.

But she didn’t change accountants.

In April 2011, Dinesen e-filed Wendy and Brian’s final joint tax return.

The e-file was rejected.

“I thought it was just a software glitch. That’s not uncommon,” Dinesen explained.

He refiled and it was rejected again.

Dinesen called the IRS and was told a return using Brian Boka’s Social Security number had already been filed.

“I had to call Wendy and tell her someone had stolen Brian’s identity and was using it to try to get a refund check,” Dinesen said.

“I was completely surprised. This was first that I had any idea that someone was using Brian’s identity,” Wendy Boka Gonzalez told Iowa Watchdog in a phone interview. She now lives in San Antonio and recently remarried.

The IRS told Dinesen all he needed to do was file a paper copy of Wendy and Brian’s return. It would be processed and Wendy would receive her refund.

Dinesen filed the paper copy and waited.

“You expect a certain slowness when you’re dealing with the IRS,” Dinesen said.

Dinesen regularly called to check on the status of the return. Each time he was told it was being processed.

By August Dinesen was no longer satisfied with that answer. He pressed for specific details.

Dinesen learned the return wasn’t being processed . . . .



. . . . “Because of how the IRS computer is programmed and because Brian was listed first on the 2010 return, the refund check had to be sent to Brian’s last known address. Even though they knew Brian was dead. Even though they had Wendy’s current address,” Dinesen explained.

“I felt like I had almost reached my breaking point,” Boka Gonzalez recalled. “It was the grossest incompetence. It was mind boggling to me that they could acknowledge something was wrong, they knew what had to be done, but no one could do anything about it.”

The IRS solution to the problem was to send the check to the old address and, after it was returned as undeliverable, reissue the check to Wendy at the correct address.

Still more weeks dragged by.

Dinesen discovered the check deliberately sent to the wrong address had been returned, but the agent still hadn’t figured out how to get the computer to issue a check to the correct address.

Under pressure from Dinesen and Boka Gonzalez, the agent finally resorted to a “special procedure.”

“They got an actual person to issue the check,” Dinesen said.

LINK

---