You have more to fear from the USPS than the IRS. (vanity)

06/08/2025 | self

[eastexsteve]

This actually falls under the "you won't believe this" section, but I felt it was worth sharing.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: benfranklinweeps; incometaxes; irs; lostmail; mail; mixmastergeneral; postoffice; tax; usps

[eastexsteve]

I've always done my own taxes. I believe everyone should know how to do their own taxes. No, my taxes are not easy. I pay quarterly, have all types of income, and have income from more than one state. My tax packet every year goes out in a 9x12 brown envelope, and has considerable heft. Nonetheless, I save money on tax preparers, and I don't fall victim to people who don't give a crap about my financial well-being. TurboTax is my friend.

Because I handle my own finances, I did battle with the IRS my whole life. I actually sued the IRS and won damages. But, that's another story. When you are on their craplist, the IRS can be very pesky and intrusive, and ask to see things they have no legal right to see. I've always believed they use me to break-in their new auditors. However, at least in my case, IRS auditors are not the sharpest pencils in the drawer. As such, I've made it costly for the IRS to send me that letter in the mail. So, the IRS has learned to leave me alone for the past 20 years or so.

This year was no different, and I mailed off two different tax packages certified mail on April 15. One went to the IRS, and the other to another state. Long story short, USPS tracking info says the one to the IRS never left the postal facility. And, after checking the IRS website many times, they never received it.

There was one thing different about this year. This year, the IRS owed me MANY thousands of dollars. However, after confronting the local postmaster about it, I just wrote it off as local mail theft, and learned the lesson that extra postage you pay for certified mail doesn't buy you anything but a tracking number, which is virtually useless when all the post office can tell you is: "Nope, it didn't get there, and we don't know where it is." And, according to the IRS, I can't refile and get that big refund until October. Meanwhile, I continue to pay my quarterly tax payments like a good serf.

But, last week, after jumping through hoops and getting many new account numbers to protect me from hackers that might come by all the personal financial info in that tax return, something magic happened. An IRS refund showed up in my checking account. And, it was more than my return said they owed me.

Upon this visit from the money fairy, I immediately checked the USPS and IRS websites to see if my return had been found. Nope. The IRS website said it didn't exist, and the USPS website said it was still lost forever.

As I said before, I've never feared butting heads with the IRS, but are both of these government agencies really this incompetent? I think president Trump has a long way to go if he intends to fix everything. God help us all.

[Leaning Right]

That kind of situation is to be expected in any organization where bad employees cannot be fired.

I once had a mailman who mixed up the mail in my street. Letters would be delivered to the wrong mailboxes. Usually they were off by one house. Incompetence or laziness more than criminal behavior.

I kept calling the postmaster to complain. Finally he told me, “I keep telling him to be more careful. But that’s all I can do.”

[TexasGator]

Why didn’t you like electronically?

[bk1000]

I had a vaguely similar experience. Took my tax returns into the post office, handed them to the clerk, and that was the last time they were seen, according to the post office tracking. They eventually found their way to their destination, but not before a penalty and interest charge was assessed. Another time I was owed a sizable refund due to a re-file from a previous year. Took a solid year, but I got my refund. Turns out many current agents work from home, and the more complex returns get bounced around because nobody wants to take ownership of them. They float in the ether. Then they recommend you utilize the services of a third party advocate. Why can’t I just deal with them? The system is broken.

[GOPJ]

The idea the postal service has been compromised by the liberal deep state isn’t as surprising as it should be. I’d still contact the IRS - could have been some rouge postal employee selling private information and ‘in the know’ about tacking ....

[GMThrust]

My rural post office in Alaska has a sign that says-Don’t forget your box key, it is unlawful for mail to be hand delivered over the counter. Wrap your head around that statement.

[eastexsteve]

Why didn’t you like electronically?

I have a lot of info in my return that has to be mailed anyway. Filing electronically only helps me if I owe money and I want to make sure they get theirs before the deadline. I still have to mail stuff.

[logi_cal869]

A curious omission which might explain why he got a refund, but doesn’t explain the USPS package. I’m sure there’s some knowledge bias there, but his final statement is spot-on.

[MachIV]

The idiotic incompetent postal service has lost more of my mail through either negligence or theft in the last 5 years than the rest of my 58 years combined. Prior to this year, they lost about 4 or 5 outgoing checks, one of which was a check for $2,000.

Right now as I type this, I have a birthday card with a $30 gift card that is lost in the mail plus a $135 check to a property management firm also simultaneously lost in the mail.

I have nothing but indescribable contempt and loathing for this abject incompetent organization.

[ConservativeMind]

Fascinating.

I have always done my taxes, except for one very confusing year. On that year, I did my taxes eight times across three platforms, and could not get past what appeared to an illegal issue from one state.

I took it to a CPA and when she got to the same spot, she agreed with me, but said it made no sense that it was written that way in the state’s tax instructions. She still signed off, thankfully, but it wasn’t my signature on the preparation, at least.

I have been audited at the Federal and State level, and always won, but it also causes a bit of angst.

At least the adrenaline lets you know you are still alive.

This situation with the IRS makes it seem they intercepted your package at the center. Fortunately, the USPS log showed it accurately.

[Liz]

I’d still contact the IRS - could have been some rouge postal employee selling private information and ‘in the know’ about tacking ....

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great point

[nopardons]

BTTT

[Vermont Lt]

So, the Post office didn’t steal your tax return?

[mabarker1]

I switched to FedEx or UPS for anything important.

Back in the mid-80’s I sent a HDD to someone via the USELESS Clusterfork aka the United States Postal Service by 1st Class. It still has not been delivered as of yet.

That’s when I decided that I could send a box of rocks via USELESS Clusterfork 3rd Class to Siberia and they would get it there the next day.

If it’s IMPORTANT then I suggest only using FedEx or UPS.

[fruser1]

Receipt of paper returns at filing centers like Kansas City Service Center (where mine go) often do not get recorded as delivered even though they do arrive there.

Due to the volume, stuff often gets queued up so it’ll just show as somewhere along the way from the USPS perspective, and nowhere from the IRS perspective.

This was always more concerning to me as I often withheld such that I’d owe a hundred bucks or so, so I kind of wanted to know they got it.

So what I do is add about twenty bucks to the amount I say I owe on the check I send. Believe it or not, I usually get a check for that 20 back before the check I sent even shows as deposited.

[Flash Bazbeaux]

“So what I do is add about twenty bucks to the amount I say I owe on the check I send. Believe it or not, I usually get a check for that 20 back before the check I sent even shows as deposited.”

Smart move. I filed with a small refund owing to me, then chased the tracking number on my return for weeks, then months, and it never showed as delivered, until one fine day I got my refund check.

[ladyjane]

That’s a very good idea that you changed a lot of the information from your return. You never know, someone could have intercepted all that information. That’s a lot of work but it’s good that you did it.

[dznutz]

Twice in the past year USPS screwed me. One, I sent a box, and the other was a letter, both I paid for Priority Mail 2-3 day delivery. The box destined for Arkansas, the tracking showed it stopped in Colorado, Georgia, Texas, then making its final destination after 10 days. Same with the letter, took a circuitous route to its destination in Florida after 10 days also. I would have been better off saving the money and just paying the regular rate and take my chances.

The Post Office has been politicized and they have strayed from their appointed purpose.

[rey]

Slightly off topic.

I used to be married to a Caribbean woman. One time her mother made, froze, and next day mailed some blood pudding from NYC to Beaufort, SC. USPS lost the package. It showed a week later and I was called down to the post office to sign for it. It was leaking, bloody, and stinking. I refused to sign for it. I was told I had to, which wasn’t true. They knew it had to go back to NYC regular mail and it would be even more ripe by the time it got there. Her mother refused the package too.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

I question how much money you are saving, unless you valued your time and peace of mind as $0/hour.