4047 IRS Data Breach

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

The singer is gone, but the song goes on.

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The IRS announced yesterday that there has been a major breach in data security.   Identity thieves have obtained "prior-year tax-return information for about 104,000 U.S. households".

There is a short Wall Street Journal article about what it means, and what taxpayers should watch for and do, at http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2015/05/27/5-questions-about-the-irs-data-breach/

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4035 Shoot Me Now

Monday, April 13, 2015

Daughter came over yesterday and we got the nylon netting up over the vent flaps. This morning I heard a heard a bird in the vent.  He (or she) had either torn a hole in the netting or moved it aside or something, had gotten inside the flap, and then caught a foot in the netting and was fluttering furiously trying to get loose.  Inside the vent.

The ladder was still out there, and I must have scared him dragging the ladder over, because he broke loose and disappeared into the tube.  I removed the netting, and then went in and turned the dryer on to blow him back out.  I don't know where he went or how he fared.

I guess I'm going to have to get some kind of metal screening or something.  Is this an isolated case of birds invading vents?  It can't be.  Are there vent flaps made to discourage birds?  If not, why not?  If there are, why would anyone install this kind, especially with the danger of nesting materials catching fire in the ceiling, or the danger of cooking eggs or baby birds in there.

I don't know what to do.  I guess I'll go to Home Depot and ask someone.

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The Angel sent me a draft of my 2014 tax return to review.  I took one look and freaked.  There had to be something terribly wrong.  According to this, I will pay $0 in federal and state taxes for 2014.  That's zero.  Nothing.  Zilch.  Nada.  I will be refunded every dollar I had paid in estimated tax and withholding over the year.

I don't understand.

I usually pay something between a few thousand and several thousand.  2013 was unusually high, $9K+ for federal, $4K for state, but that was... very unusual.

I dragged out the 2013 return and compared them.  It doesn't look like anything was missed.  The big difference was in capital gains.  In 2013 I had a lot.  In 2014 I ended up with a small net loss (which Piper will have to explain next time I see him).  I fired off some questions to the Angel, all of which he answered satisfactorily except for one $5K itemized deduction I still don't understand.  I have to get back to him on that.

After that mess last fall when the IRS decided I owed an additional $61K for 2012 (I didn't, but clearing that up was not easy), I really don't want to attract attention! Given the difference between 2013 and 2014, I'm afraid red flags will be popping up all over the place.

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Update:  internet search.  Bird guard.  Can buy in hardware stores.
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4019 IRS again.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

I am livid!

To recap:
The IRS had sent me a notice that I owed an additional $61,000.00 in taxes for 2012, which was patently ridiculous.  It turned out Schwab had sent info on trades that did not include the cost basis.  I sent it all off to The Angel, who sent in an amended 1040, which showed that I should actually be getting an additional few hundred in refund for 2012.  I don't know who screwed up, or how, neither do I care, as long as it gets fixed.  The IRS refigured my taxes using the new amended 1040, and sent me a letter saying that I will be getting a check for $121.00.  Why the reduction from Angel's recalculation?  I don't know and I don't care, as long as the IRS goes away.

Ok, that's where it stood as of mid-February.

Early last week, I received a check from the Us Treasury for $127.82, dated 2/23/15. Duh?  Is the extra $6.82 interest?  Seems a bit low for interest....

Last Monday I received a letter from the IRS, dated 3/2/15 (yeah, dated the same day I received it), informing me (again) that I would be receiving a check for $121.00 within the next two to three weeks.

Um, what?

Yesterday and today I spent literally hours on the phone to the national IRS number and the local IRS office trying to find out why the difference, and can I get into trouble for depositing what appears to be an incorrect check (which of course I have already done), and will I really be getting another check in the smaller amount, and if so, what do I do with it?

You will not believe the problems I've had getting through.  There's the usual "high call volume  try again later".  There's the enter your birthdate, month now, two characters, so I enter"10", and hear "must be two characters" along with a kindergarten example of what two numbers look like, but I already know, because I can see the "10" I had entered on my phone's screen, so they say to enter the month again, so I do, and again I see the 10 on my screen, and the mechanical voice says "call again when you have the information", and HANGS UP!!!

I finally managed to get through on something like the fifth try and got on the queue, "calls are handled in the order they are received, so stay on the line, do not hang up", and listened to horrible jangley music for 40 minutes, when I heard the music stop, and a clicking sound, then silence --- silence long enough, about 5 seconds, that the cell phone figured the line was dead, and DROPPED THE CALL!!!!

I went to the IRS website, and there's no way to ask my question there.

I called the local IRS office.  They don't see people in person.  All inquiries are handled by the phone system, which, by the way, has no option to leave a question to be answered by a human, and,by the way, rejected my two-digit birth date and hung up on me THREE TIMES before I was able to get to the part where I could ask (sort of) about the 2012 refund, whereupon I was informed that I would be receiving a check for $121.00 in two to three weeks.

And people wonder why I hate telephones.

And the IRS.
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3995 Life is ... well, it just is.

Monday, December 1, 2014

"Most people would rather be certain they're miserable than risk being happy."

 --Robert Anthony--

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I went up to the old house Saturday morning, November 15, just for the day, just to make sure the furnace was on and that it was running well.  It was 40 degrees in the house when I arrived and turned the furnace on.  I spent the next five hours sorting papers in the big filing cabinets, while the house warmed up.

I found a lot of neat stuff.  Once upon a time, in the old days, people wrote letters - actual penmanship, on real paper.  I had always kept personal letters and cards.  I found letters from my mother, letters from my youngest sister, copies of letters I had written to Jay's family when he was sick, and a few old love letters from suitors, including a love letter from Jay from before we were married.  

I set most of those aside to bring down here. I read the one from Jay several times up there before adding it to the "keep" pile; I'll read the others some day. I brought back with me a large box of paper for recycling, thinking I'd bring the "keep" letters back on the next trip, which was supposed to be later that next week.  

I stayed only until evening.  By 5 pm the house was up to 65 degrees, but I'd had enough.  I was freezing!  Shivering.  My hands were shaking so badly I was having difficulty handling papers.  We forget that it's not just the air in the house that's cold and needs to be warmed, but everything in the house. Walls, floors, furniture, appliances - they all suck heat out of the air (and out of me) until they get up to air temp.  That takes a long time.  So I set the thermostat back to 60 degrees, went to the diner in the village for dinner, and came on home.  I intended to return the next Thursday, the 20th, then stay until Saturday, and sort and pack up some more.

That Thursday morning I woke up and couldn't bend my left knee without a lot of pain, and it wouldn't support any weight bent.  It was fine straight, I just couldn't bend it.  There was no swelling, no heat or redness, no lumps, no tender spots, nothing.  I suspect I'd slept on it funny and sprained or strained something.  The main problem was the knee, but my hip was complaining, too.  (I notice stuff like this happening more as I get older. Side effect of increased wisdom, I guess.)  I was walking like a pirate swinging a wooden leg.  Stairs were interesting, and I couldn't drive because I couldn't use the clutch, so I wasn't going north.

By Sunday it seemed a bit better, but I didn't really trust it until like Tuesday, but with Thanksgiving on Thursday, there was no way I'd be on the highways until ... well ... today at the earliest.  Sigh.

So much for my determination to get moving on that house.  I hadn't been up there since early summer, for various reasons that now sound like excuses, but were really valid at the time - like Hal being in the shop and waiting for parts several times, and a very bad cold followed by a sinus infection, and commitments made to Daughter and to Nugget, and so on.  Not to mention that IRS thing and some other businessy garbage that took time and attention.

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Speaking of the IRS thing, I am going to have to have a serious talk with Piper.  He is in charge of my investments, and he moves money around too much in my estimation.  He's always buying this and selling that.  I can't complain that he has lost money for me, but he seems to consider it a game to "beat the market".  He's starting to look like a damn day-trader, with MY MONEY!  Having no particular expertise in that area, it's difficult for me to rein him in.  Well, he was proud that he had increased my holdings by something like 22% in 2013.  Then I got the annual statements from my 401K and my IRAs, which I control, not him.  My strategy is to find the best place to put the money, put it there, and LEAVE it there.  

My 401K and three IRAs all had gains over 33% in 2013.  That's 33%.  If 22% is pretty damn good, then 33% is fantastic!

So next time I see him, I'm going to tell him to find the best place to put the money, put it there, and LEAVE it there. I don't want to see more than three trades a year.  Period.  I'll spoil his fun, and he's going to have fits, but that's it.  I've had it.  Every trade he makes costs me money in processing fees, and I see no advantage in "playing" the market.  My IRAs are in no-load low-fee index-based mutual funds, and they are growing just fine, thank you.  They dipped a little in 2007-8ish, but they more than recovered just fine.  

Actually, I know what's going on.  He dearly loves everything Wall Street.  I don't think he has any other hobbies.  The Market IS his hobby.  His daughter has joined him in his business, and over the past five years she has gradually taken over most of his accounts, the largest of which are large union and business retirement funds.  He has retained his private accounts.  Like mine.  We are all he has left to indulge his passion.  

The other problem is that his buddies are all gloom-and-doom Wall Street Republicans who can't see anything ahead but recession and depression from Democrats (especially when led by a brown one), so he takes their advice and panics and sells off everything before every election.  I could strangle him for that.  Is anyone aware that the economy is just fine?  33% growth in index accounts in 2013?  Yeah, the middle class isn't recovering very quickly, but that fabled 1% is doing just fine.  The rich are getting richer.  Corporations are doing just fine.  

I hope I can convince him to settle down.  I hope I don't have to fire him.  I will if I have to, but it would cost a small fortune to pull out, and I don't know where I'd put it then.  I've met a few investment counselors in the past decade (remember The Ditz, for example?  That's what she does) and I don't trust any of them.  At least I can trust Piper - trust is not the problem with him.  He really thinks he's doing the best for me.  I just don't agree with his political philosophy and management methods. 

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Oh, almost forgot.  There was a big storm at the old house the day before Thanksgiving, and a huge tree fell across the top of the driveway.  One of those that pulled the root ball out of the ground.  The Hairless Hunk sent me a text msg plus photo this morning. His wife's mother had died last week, too, so he apologized that today was the first time he'd checked the house since the storm. (Sheesh.  Yeah, take care of your family first, Hunk.  Don't apologize for that.)  He has been rotating his excess vehicles at the top of my drive so it looks like there's activity at the house, and from the tiny photo it looks like maybe his car got hit by the tree.  His note didn't say anything about that.  So, anyway, until he clears the tree out, I don't think I'll be going up there.  I hope It doesn't snow before then, or it will be a real mess!

Why are things so complicated?
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3991 Freakout continued

Monday, October 27, 2014

"Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time."

- -Steven Wright--

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Well, it's been a little over a week since that Friday I received the letter from the IRS insisting that I owed over $61K in taxes for 2012.

The letter had a lot of detail as to how they arrived at that figure, and over the weekend I dug out the tax filings and forms from 2011 and 2012 and compared my figures to the IRS's figures.  It looks like the IRS never received my 1040 etc filing.  For example, I had a refund from 2011, $2K of which I "rolled over" toward the 2012 taxes, and one of my income sources does withhold taxes.  The IRS says that only that amount withheld was paid, they don't show the $2K rollover.  They also show none of my deductions.  AND, the major error is that they show all the stock, bond, and fund trades that Piper had done on my behalf as pure profit - there was no cost basis deducted for those trades.

Yup.  Looks like they never received my 1040 filing for 2012.

The next Monday I overnighted (a "verbed" word if I ever saw one) copies of the IRS letter to Piper the money guy, and Angel the CPA.  They went to work on it.  I don't much care how it gets handled, just so it does get handled.

Angel called me last Friday and said we would re-file the 2012 taxes, and he'd be overnighting me the completed 1040s etc, which I should sign and send to the IRS. He didn't mention the New Jersey taxes.

I found his use of the word "re-file" very interesting.  I strongly suspect that he never filed the originals.  Every year I gather all the info, make copies of the 1099s and real estate tax receipts and so on, and send him the packet.  He does my taxes, then sends it all to me, I review it and either make corrections or approve it as is, and then he e-files it for me.  If there's any tax due, I mail the check separately, but usually there's a small refund which we "wrap" toward the next year.  I'll bet you a gazillion dollars he forgot to e-file my taxes.

I didn't challenge him on it.

He startled me a little when he said that not only do I not owe any money, I'm going to get a refund of a few hundred dollars.

Well, it's Monday afternoon, about 2:30 pm, and the forms that were going to be overnighted Friday have not yet arrived.  I'm very anxious to see them.

You know, I'm afraid this might not be over yet....
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3988 Freakout

Friday, October 17, 2014

What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.

 --Ralph Waldo Emerson--

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Our mail arrives usually after 5:30-ish, too late to conduct any business based on it.

One innocent-looking envelope today was from the IRS.

They claim I owe $61,569 additional on my 2012 income tax, $9,786 of which is a "tax understatement penalty". They want the money by November 13, 2014.

What?!

Tomorrow I'm going to copy the multi-page letter, and send copies to my investment guy Piper, and my CPA Angelo.

Something is VERY wrong.

I think my total 2012 income was around $72,000, including social security, retirement, capital gains, interest, and dividends, most of which is reinvested and I don't actually "see" it.

I fully expect Piper and Angelo to FIX THIS!
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