IRS Can Now Seize Your Tax Refund To Pay a Relative's Debt 632
Hugh Pickens DOT Com (2995471) writes "Just in time for the April 15 IRS filing deadline comes news from the Washington Post that hundreds of thousands of taxpayers expecting refunds are instead getting letters informing them of tax debts they never knew about: often a debt incurred by their parents. The government is confiscating their checks, sometimes over debts 20—30 years old. For example, when Mary Grice was 4 (in 1960), her father died ... 'Until the kids turned 18, her mother received survivor benefits from Social Security ... Now, Social Security claims it overpaid someone in the Grice family in 1977. ... Four years after Sadie Grice died, the government is coming after her daughter. ... "It was a shock," says Grice, 58. "What incenses me is the way they went about this. They gave me no notice, they can't prove that I received any overpayment, and they use intimidation tactics, threatening to report this to the credit bureaus."'
The Treasury Department has intercepted ... $75 million from debts delinquent for more than 10 years according to the department's debt management service. 'The aggressive effort to collect old debts started three years ago — the result of a single sentence tucked into the farm bill lifting the 10-year statute of limitations on old debts to Uncle Sam.'"
Re:Joke's on you feds (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sorry, the center you were raised at has unpaid tax bills. They've since shut down so we're recovering all debts from the orphans.
Re:This is what Republicans... (Score:2, Funny)
Yeessssss. Yeeesssss... let the childish, passive-aggressive comments flow through you!
Gotta pay the government bills somehow (Score:4, Funny)
Talking of unpaid taxes ... (Score:5, Funny)
Now that the government of the USA has decided to remove the statue of limitations as regards taxation, might I remind Barack Obama of the little matter of unpaid taxes to King George III of England. These date back to your protest against the 1773 Tea Act [wikipedia.org]. Can I tell her Magesty's government that payment will soon be made ?