She gave me
her name and her ID number. I wish I’d
jotted it down, because I would have posted it along with this entry.
In addition
to repeatedly trying to bring law concerning internationals into it (which had
nothing a’tall to do with my question about exclusions) these are things actually
said to me by the lady on the other end of the IRS Helpline:
·
“You
just have to interpret it the best way you can.” (What are you needed for then? Can I apply that logic to my personal taxes? I can interpret it mean I don’t pay taxes,
but get a big refund anyway. Hey! It works for some, why not me?)
·
“I’m
not a tax attorney, so…” (Answer to my question for clarity on the IRS
written guidelines for my particular issue.)
·
“Go
online.” (That’s where I found your complex
solution and confusing wording to a simple problem…hence the phone call, where
I was on hold for over half an hour before I got Ms. Thang.)
·
“Let
me see if I can find something on our website.” (Said in the tone of, “Since you can’t manage
to do it..." She couldn't find anything.)
·
“It
has to be one way or the other.” (Profound. Only that’s not what your website says…that’s
why it’s called an exception.)
So did she take care of your problem? I only had to call the IRS one time when I got a VERY BIG tax refund (which was actually the amount of money I had paid in quarterly taxes since I was self employed at the time). I just wanted to know what to do with the check (though it was tempting to cash it, LOL). It did take the person I talked to a few minutes to realize that yes a mistake had been made and we still owed that money and it shouldn't have been refunded to us. Makes you indeed wonder if they really know what they are doing.
ReplyDeletebetty
You know, once when I called the IRS, I was told a couple of those same things. Word for Word! Specifically, "You need to interpret..." and "I'm not a tax attorney."
ReplyDeleteThat tax attorney one, as I recall, got a pretty...ummm...big response from me. So frustrating. We are also not tax attorneys--and we don't work for the IRS, either! haha. I can feel a rant bubbling up. I'll stop before it gets started, but I sure can remember that phone call.