Nasty surprise the other night. The missus goes to the ATM inserts card and her checking and savings account are gone, as in zero money.

Go into the online app and see a debit titled legal order with a 334 area code. Call the # and it's the Alabama Dept of Revenue.

Now we have not resided in Alabama in 17 years. So I get in touch yesterday to find out whats going on. According to the several folks I got bounced around to the state tax returns from 2001,2002,2003,2004,2005 were in error with taxes not paid and all were filed late. These were mine and her's filed jointly her name on top.

I cannot fathom how this is possible as we have never in the twenty three years of marriage incurred a a tax debt at the end of the year and in most cases are owed a small return. We purposely adjust our withholding to break even. One year we even qualified for EIC. This is both state and federal. Nor were they filed late as one of those years my feet dragging found us in the line at the Birmingham post office late into the night on the 15th, the wife made it clear that to me that would never ever happen again lol.

Now we had never received notice of an audit or judgment. Acording to the folks I spoke to they sent notices to an address that was the first home we lived in on moving to Georgia, we lived there about six months. Somehow they can locate a bank account about three times removed from that time yet no current address when it's plastered all over the internet if you link my name to my business.

As it's been seventeen years and several moves we do not still have those returns and the dept would not provide me copies without submitting forms, multiple, to that effect.

I'm at a loss as to how to proceed. I did Google tax assistance and hit the first tax consultant ad just for informational purposes. It seems their strategy is to attack the law regarding timeline to audit, etc. It seems Alabama has three years for either the state or filer to contest but I couldn't get an answer as to when the clock starts on that or when the state began the process. Next tactic is to argue the numbers on paper and failing that negotiate the final total with an eye to dropping penalties or total based on hardship.

But of course the fees for this "service" could end up rivaling what the state says is owed and we still have to pay the state something. Needless to say I thanked them for the information and passed on hiring them.

And I was informed there is really no sort of countersuit possible to recover my costs if I succeed in contesting these claims.

Seems like I'm going to be out money, possibly meeting or exceeding, win lose or draw.

And if that isn't a rigged system I don't know what is.

I would contact whoever is doing your taxes now, even if it wasn’t who filed them then. We were audited 3 years in a row after our accountant died…sorta strange seeing how many people under this person was also audited. Our new accountant worked with us to get the matters resolved and did find some mistakes the previous person made. Think for the 3 years it was close to $5000. We payed it and nothing since. They didn’t come after our savings or checking…they just took it from that years refund.

I would think, the statute of limitations would apply. My understanding is, they can only contest the prior 5 years, but I am no lawyer.

Any chance you drove a truck through Canada a couple months ago?

Your going to pay someone to get this solved, I don't know if you need an accountant or tax lawyer. The other choice is suck it up and give the government what they want.

I'm just a layman so I may misunderstood what I read on their website but it seems the state has a three year window to audit and likewise the filer has three years to adjust or claim.

If my understanding is right this means they would've had to start the process no later than 2004 for the first return. 2008 for the last. If this is correct we were still residents in 2004 and should've received a notice.

Even after we moved in 05 we always forwarded our mail. We have never received notice of any audit or action.

I'm assuming if my understanding is correct they could've started the process in a timely manner yet have only now located us. Which seems hard to believe considering we aren't exactly hiding.

But that doesn't answer my question of exactly what income wasn't reported or error made. These were simple returns a W-2 for her and 1099 for me. No itemization or interest income to report. And they were always double checked by my tax accountant father.

BTW he will be consulted but I'm trying to gather as much information myself before I bring him in on it. I'd rather not upset him as he's 80 this year and has some health issues.

The fact that you got a refund doesn't make your tax return correct. It could just mean the state didn't catch an error at the time. However, if you can show you got the refund before the filing deadline it would prove you did not file late.

Is it possible some sort of identity theft with someone using one of our SS# had some income that got reported?

I ask because she has had family members use her and her brother's SS# for things like utilities and we had to clean up somethings during that time frame.

True, I understand that. It would mean we made an error, either willful or not, that the state didn't catch. I can see that and if shown to me I would understand. However, my point is I'm not a CPA or tax attorney but my father the book keeper has kept books all of his adult life and prepared taxes for hundreds of individuals in that time so I'm pretty confident I and the spouse can properly fill out a 1040EZ especially when the only reportable income was a W2 and 1099 plus doublechecked.

No, but I did stay in a Conservative Inn last night.

So any advice on options?

Tax Attorney
CPA
Handle it myself
Tax Advocate
Head for Mexico

What to avoid?

Give Optima Tax relief a call. See if they’re as good as I keep hearing.

Maybe coonman can help?

Jump through the hoops and get the documentation for at least one year to see if you can start to untangle the mess. It could be a mistake somewhere.

Could be. We're printing off the forms to request our returns. Five bucks a pop and snail mail only. I got the feeling these folks are going to nickel and dime us and still aren't up to speed with the twentieth, much less the twenty-first, century.
I love my home state but I'll be the first to admit state offices are stuck in some sort of time loop.

I would say how you handle it would vary directly with the amount.

Unfortunately that may be what it boils down to. Legal extortion as in so many things these days.

But ultimately I want to know what is being claimed against me. If legimate then no harm/no foul I'll own up to making mistakes.

Guess I'm not crazy because I don't want my money in a bamk where things like this can happen. Just enough in there to get bills paid.