(2009-2011) IRS WITHHOLDS $29,101
REFUND DUE ON 2008 FORM 1045, THEN PAYS
Adding even further insult to injury was the IRS”s failure to refund $29,101 I claimed on a 2008 Form 1045 (business loss carryback,) filed in August 2009 after the filing of an extension. My return included the 2008 Form 1040 and Form 1045, “Application for Tentative Refund.” The Form 1045 was to carry back the year 2008 business loss to a prior year, which would result in a refund of $29,101 based on taxes previously paid on income equal to the 2008 loss. I received the refund from my Form 1040 about 30 days after the filing, but did not receive the Form 1045 refund.
At the advice of the Revenue Agent reviewing my 2005 Form 1040X refund claim, I contacted the IRS’s Taxpayer Advocate Service (“TAS”) in April 2010. I talked to multiple people at first who confirmed the IRS’s receipt of my Form 1045, but gave me different reasons for the processing delay. The TAS assigned my case to a representative, with whom I was in regular contact in the months that followed. During that time, the processing of the Form 1045 was assigned to the Revenue Agent reviewing my 2005 1040X claim. As time went on with no results, the TAS representative told me that she had never seen a delay like this on a Form 1045, which the IRS is supposed to process within 30 days of receipt.
In October 2010, after the IRS finally decided in favor of my 2005 1040X refund claim, an IRS representative told me that my Form 1045 refund would occur after the 2005 1040X refund was processed, and that I would receive interest on the 2008 Form 1045 $29,101 refund back to the time I filed it in 2009. After I received my 2005 Form 1040X refund in February 2011, the TAS representative told me she was closing my case on the Form 1045, as it was being processed by the Revenue Agent. However, at the same time, the Revenue Agent said that he couldn’t process the Form 1045 because he couldn’t verify that the IRS had received it in August 2009. I reported that status to the TAS representative, who replied that her Manager told her she must close my case despite the fact that nothing had been, or would be done, toward my refund.
I talked to the Revenue Agent several more times, who worked with his manager to send a copy of my Form 1045 to a processing center. Finally, on June 20, 2011, I received the 2008 Form 1045 refund of $29,101 in a check dated June 17, 2011. As interest was not included, I contacted the Oakland Revenue Agent’s Group Manager for assistance. At his request, I sent him a statement showing the August 24, 2009 date I had filed the Form 1045, and request for interest payment due to the fact that it was the IRS that had delayed payment for nearly two years. He forwarded my statement on to the Field Office Resource Team.
While all at the Taxpayer Advocate Service were courteous, the Service was of no apparent benefit in its ten months of involvement. In assessing the history of events and conflicting status reports, it appears that, after it was filed in August 2009. the 2008 Form 1045 was either set aside somewhere, or selected for audit, due to the pending 2005 Form 1040X that had been filed in April 2009. During the lengthy resolution of the 1040X that continued into early 2011, the Form 1045 became lost. The delay in my receiving the refund, as well as the countless hours I have spent on the Form 1045 issue alone, appear to be yet another adverse result of the alleged GM/IRS conspired actions in prior years.
