Posted on 09/24/2005 7:15:26 PM PDT by calcowgirl
SAN FRANCISCO – Thousands of tax payments and other correspondence sent to the Internal Revenue Service were dumped into San Francisco Bay following an automobile accident.
About 30,000 quarterly tax payments sent to an IRS post office box in San Francisco in early September were ejected into the bay from a contract courier vehicle involved in the Sept. 11 accident, the IRS said in a "problem alert" statement issued Friday.
An additional 15,000 tax payments were recovered after the accident, which occurred on the San Mateo Bridge as the courier traveled from the San Francisco post office to a check-processing facility in Hayward, the IRS said.
Most of the documents lost were Form 1040-ES quarterly estimated tax payments, the IRS said.
The agency said those affected could include residents of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming, as well as anyone who mailed an IRS tax payment to the agency's San Francisco post office box between Sept. 1 and Sept. 11.
The checks believed lost represent less than 2 percent of the total payments processed by the Hayward center in September, the IRS said.
The agency advised taxpayers who might be affected to wait until the end of the month before contacting IRS through its toll-free line. That will allow checks that were processed to clear the banking system, the IRS said.
A Phoenix tax-return preparer said taxpayers who think they might be affected should be alert for signs of possible identify theft.
"I am not reassured that they are at the bottom of the bay," preparer Bob Kamman told The Arizona Republic newspaper. "IRS would like us to think so, but if the lost documents float ashore, anyone finding them may have name, address, Social Security number and bank information for someone with enough income to make quarterly payments."
The IRS said it will waive interest and penalties for affected taxpayers and plans to send a notice to taxpayers who have previously mailed estimated tax payments to the San Francisco post office box.
The notice will include specific instructions, if necessary, for sending in a replacement check within 30 days from notification, the IRS said.
I swear I sent it in, Mr IRS Agent!
IBF!
I smell tea!
This sounds like Pelosi and Boxer's wet dream.
IRS: "BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAHAHAHAAAAAAA! Your fines and penalties will be $25,000.03".
Life is good! and in San Fran no less.
Damn! Now the poor gummint workers are going to starve. Can we have a national televised benefit event for them with major entertainment stars and celebrities?
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Sounds like a tea party act in support of Prop 13 :-)
And they're going to do pretty much the same thing in new orleans!
I seem to remember some voter ballots or voter registration forms being dumped in the Bay back in 2000.
Guess the Bay must be the official govt. dump site. I hope they filed all the necessary enviornmental impact statements or someone's gonna be in a heap o trouble. :)
Shoot, they probably could find Jimmy Hoffa down there.
This never would have happened if the Fair Tax Act(HR 25)was passed. Ping!
I just checked my bank's website and my September estimated tax check cleared. :-(
Cindy Sheehan's overdue tax payments were in there, I'm sure.
They need to recover those tax payments in San Francisco Bay, so they can dump them in Nagin Bay.
*snicker*
The IRS should go jump in a lake. The people whose returns were affected will be subject to late penalities and other punitive measures. This is a bunch of crap.
Oh, so do I. Oh soooohhh do I.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.