Earlier this month I picked up my mail and found an ominous-looking envelope from the State of Maryland. I had actually mailed off my 3 returns (part-time residencies in Arizona and Maryland) a few weeks earlier.
Yeah, I know: I'm a former MIS professor and an IT professional; why am I still mailing in returns? Probably just habit and I haven't done my due diligence; I've always had concerns about Internet security and possible exposure of PII. Initially it was extra-cost and more convenient for the government than the taxpayer; perhaps you could get your refund faster.
But I remember when the government used to annually mail out tax booklets around the start of the year. I'm not sure when or why it stopped; I initially thought that maybe it had to do with a series of interstate moves and maybe the government didn't have the right address on file. But a quick Internet search showed that there are a lot of people asking where they can pick up tax forms. I've actually been used to downloading my forms and instructions for years for things like self-reported income or investment transaction addenda. I really didn't think of how the government was processing or storing return data I've typically maintained the spreadsheets I use in completing the forms and copies (typically in pdf form) of returns, W-2's. I don't need OCR or other scanning software to digitize return content. And of course, there are a number of ways the government could ask for form data, e.g., CSV files.
Of course, we've seen more recently fill-in pdf's, some of them which include rules for inputs, compute aggregate lines, etc. One particularly obnoxious example was Arizona's part-time resident form which didn't seem to accept the inputs for my dates of residency, so I ended up having to go back to the website for a non-fillable alternative, requiring hand-entered results. For some reason this year, when I printed completed such forms, at least half the line items didn't print out, and it doesn't seem linked to my printer ink levels. I didn't consider it worth my time or effort to troubleshoot. (Out of curiosity, I did a Google search on "fill-in tax forms not printing items" and found similar issues reported in past tax years.)
A lot of explanation just to set up the reasons why my Maryland return was hand-filled, and my handwriting has not improved with age. To my eyes, my SSN was clearly legible, but apparently (I learned later), the scanner misread the last digit of my SSN. So presumably they refused to credit me for state withholding on my W-2 form (of course, they are quite willing to accept the income figure on my W-2, but not the withholding). Never mind that by their own admission the first 8 digits match exactly and their own notice to me correctly identifies the last 4--but they identify me as "Ronald M. Guillemette". Dude, my MI is "A" as in my late father Armand. I have no idea where the M came from. There's a vague reference to my having to prove I have my own SSN. Since when? Scanning software is notoriously error-prone. I've been filing federal returns for decades, and I don't ever recall them asking for proof of my SSN.
They really don't explain what happened, but you get a markup of your return with no acknowledgment of withholding, one other adjustment is notable--my missing standard deduction. Apparently their system thinks it's an exemption (it doesn't understand the distinction between an exemption and a deduction) and claims that as a part-time resident, I can only claim a fraction (MD/federal AGI) of said amount. The only problem: the amounts I claimed were not full-year amounts, but roughly 40%. But my simulated return shows NOTHING for a standard deduction
So instead of getting my expected return of a few hundred dollars (which they are borrowing from me with 0% interest), I'm being presented with a demand for nearly $2400, which is due immediately or else they'll hit me with interest and penalty.
This made me bat shit crazy. It brought back memories of high school, where I had been bullied as a nerd. This other Air Force brat seemed to put punching me on the head at the top of his daily to do list. I tried to avoid confronting him to no avail, until one day while I was waiting in line for the base bus, he punched my head hard from behind on the side near the ear. I haven't studied the brain in that much detail, but I snapped. Whatever intimidation or fear of confrontation I had was gone; I went after the son of a bitch and bloodied his nose. He had this "what the hell just happened", stunned look in his eyes looking down at the blood he had wiped from his nose; his young disciples were egging him on to get me back; he wisely backed off--and that was the end of the bullying.
I immediately faxed a toughly worded response, checked with my employer to ensure my money had been sent to the state, went on a Twitter storm (and later deleted the tweets), sent an email to the governor, started looking up tax attorney, considered writing a rant to the leading Baltimore newspaper, and was thinking of flaming the Comptroller when I stumbled across the link for an ombudsman (for those unfamiliar with the concept, this is a taxpayer representative able to maneuver around the bureaucracy to fix problems. They actually got back to me fairly quickly. They had one requirement--I had to send them a copy of my SSN card. When I complained I already sent that in my earlier fax; he put his foot down and said, "Listen, you can wait (for a long time) for your fax to be processed by staffers, or you can work with me to speed it up." I sent the fax, didn't get an acknowledgment and wrote him back 2 or 3 days later. He responded, "Let me know if you don't get your refund in 7 days." At last--the state was admitting it owed me money.
My guess is that I'm not the only person with a horror story, but there should be someone checking things out before sending out these accusatory notices to taxpayers. Any reasonable person knew in my case the automated process was in error. How do you assume no withholding or no standard deduction in sending out a notice for payment? The burden of proof should be on the government, not the taxpayer.
