Check sent with extension not cashed by IRS

[JohnH]

After thinking this over, I'm not convinced that IRS has no way to deal with staples (even when they say not to use them).

There are plenty of taxpayers who erroneously use staples, and I'm betting the presence of one doesn't throw the entire system out of kilter.

[Black Bart]

Agree.

After thinking this over, I'm not convinced that IRS has no way to deal with staples (even when they say not to use them).

There are plenty of taxpayers who erroneously use staples, and I'm betting the presence of one doesn't throw the entire system out of kilter.

I have a friend whose wife once worked for the IRS in Memphis. She said that in her department there was a lady whose only job was pulling staples out of various documents.

[JohnH]

Job security.
That's a task that can't be replaced by a computer.

[FEDUKE404]

For lack of a staple. . .

After thinking this over, I'm not convinced that IRS has no way to deal with staples (even when they say not to use them).

There are plenty of taxpayers who erroneously use staples, and I'm betting the presence of one doesn't throw the entire system out of kilter.

NOT my point.

A letter-opening machine that is "expecting" only a piece of paper form (1040-ES perhaps without, perhaps with a payment), specific to the P O Box address, may well have an issue passing a stapled ( = thicker) item successfully. Add to that, if the check plus voucher may have been sent to a "non-payment" processing address, in all likelihood no one was even looking for a check in the first place.

It's not greatly different from enclosing a letter with your MasterCard payment and mailing it with your payment coupon/check to the (automated) payment processing center. Rest assured whatever you wrote in the letter will NEVER see the light of day. . . but your check will get cashed.

As for the GS-12 "staple puller," the days of sending everything to Memphis and letting them sort things out is far in the rear view mirror.

I did get a chuckle out of someone saying Drake tax software mentions no staple issues. Relevance?? FWIW, just about every invoice/utility bill/etc I receive very clearly states "enclose but do not staple your payment."

FE

[Black Bart]

Maybe not.

Job security.
That's a task that can't be replaced by a computer.

Although I generally sympathize with the Luddites, the lady I mentioned worked at IRS about 20 years ago. By now she's probably been replaced by something like this (works 24-7; requires no light, heat, A/C, union wages, or a vacation).

http://www.adept.com/products/robots/parallel/quattro-s800h/general

P.S. On the plus side, the "Quattro" probably doesn't care if the Chinese do have its model, serial number, and date of manufacture.

[JohnH]

I think my doctor used one of these for my most recent colonoscopy.

[Black Bart]

I think my doctor used one of these for my most recent colonoscopy.

Do you suppose that some staples were perhaps attached inappropriately ? Don't forget that you (as FE pointed out) "...may well have an issue passing a stapled ( = thicker) item successfully."

[JohnH]

I know i started us down this path, but if we persist with colonoscopy jokes, in the end we will have to barium.

[Black Bart]

I know i started us down this path, but if we persist with colonoscopy jokes, in the end we will have to barium.

Quite right, old boy -- time to bury 'em indeed.

Back to the importance of coupons and wrong addresses; here's a couple of other points of view:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900609-what-is-irs-form-1040-v-payment-voucher

http://www.thestreet.com/story/929585/1/yikes-i-sent-my-tax-return-to-the-wrong-address.html

[FEDUKE404]

Yikes! Wrong address

...http://www.thestreet.com/story/92958...g-address.html

For better, or for worse, it may be worth noting this reference is over fifteen years old. . .

FE

[Black Bart]

For better, or for worse, it may be worth noting this reference is over fifteen years old. . .

FE

True, but I think the dated advice ("...if they go to the wrong address, it slows things down, but...it will be forwarded to the right address.") is still good.

My clients have mailed many, many payments over the years and I'm fairly sure that a wrongly-addressed envelope and vouchers with a staple or payments without a voucher must have slipped in there at some time. Yet, no one's ever come to me complaining their payment was returned for those particular errors.

And then there's the home-filed DIY returns and extensions -- can you seriously imagine that IRS would not keep the checks, but would instead return them saying "This payment was stapled to your voucher improperly; please re-submit". Or "Your check had no accompanying voucher; please furnish one and we will process your payment". There have to be thousands of self-filing people who (unlike probably most tax preparers), through negligence or error, send payments to refund addresses instead of payment addresses. And even more who staple checks to vouchers. IRS can barely handle the major workload; much less piddlin' stuff like this.

But anyway, as we seem to have run off with Ms. Hoffman's post; my advice to her is the same as Nashville's and JohnH's (posted above), i.e., she'll win, but it'll take a while. I've been getting a neighbor's mail occasionally since they eliminated several postal centers a year or two ago, so hopefully someone else didn't sign for it.

[Snaggletooth]

More Endless Staple Discussion

I routinely continue to staple documents. I would prefer to co-operate with their request, but...

I'm also fed up with the IRS losing documents, then sending the taxpayer a notice that a particular page was missing. My review has told me the missing page(s) were in the print queue. There is a valid reason for stapling multi-page documents together.

The IRS has no accountability - and makes horrendous errors so blatant that if the taxpayer made them, he would be lashed at the stake. I am looking for ways to make taxing authorities deal with their own inefficiencies.

[ATSMAN]

I routinely continue to staple documents. I would prefer to co-operate with their request, but...

I'm also fed up with the IRS losing documents, then sending the taxpayer a notice that a particular page was missing. My review has told me the missing page(s) were in the print queue. There is a valid reason for stapling multi-page documents together.

The IRS has no accountability - and makes horrendous errors so blatant that if the taxpayer made them, he would be lashed at the stake. I am looking for ways to make taxing authorities deal with their own inefficiencies.

Have you ever watched those old IRS videos when the processors take a bundle of tax returns and manually un-staple them prior to data input. I think that tradition still continues?

[TAXNJ]

Don't feel alone

I routinely continue to staple documents. I would prefer to co-operate with their request, but...

I'm also fed up with the IRS losing documents, then sending the taxpayer a notice that a particular page was missing. My review has told me the missing page(s) were in the print queue. There is a valid reason for stapling multi-page documents together.

The IRS has no accountability - and makes horrendous errors so blatant that if the taxpayer made them, he would be lashed at the stake. I am looking for ways to make taxing authorities deal with their own inefficiencies.

Have to note there many professional and caring people that work for the IRS. It may be the processes that are outdated. For example, based on news reports, there is a Congessional Committee trying to obtain IRS emails from the IRS and it is reported that the committee is having the same problems as taxpayers and have been put "on hold" (without music).

Found that having clients when possible to electronic file all payments and returns saves frustration and time.