IRS 5 Cent Bill, 4 Cent Return

news.yahoo.com...

Anyone else find this story amusing? I hope this gets more publicity. Just so people can see the way these guys operate.

[edit on 4-1-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

Incredible! Not only is the double standard outrageous, but so is wasting the paper, ink, manpower, and postage to collect 5 cents. Why they would spend money and supplies to collect a nickel is beyond me.

Yeah, it is pretty silly.
It cost much more money to even send the bill.

Originally posted by cornblossom
Incredible! Not only is the double standard outrageous, but so is wasting the paper, ink, manpower, and postage to collect 5 cents. Why they would spend money and supplies to collect a nickel is beyond me.

I was just going to say that, It would cost more than five cents to send out that notice.

Thats your tax money hard at work folks. Spending around 40 cents to collect 5... I must say, thats quite a fail on the IRS's part.

5 cents is not worth collecting on even if you dont have to send out a letter. Most people would let such a small amount slide. But then again, most people are actually sane.

My mom was telling me that she got a letter claiming she owed several hundred. She called because she couldnt figure out why, and after several days and the IRS spending about 50 dollars trying to figure out (phone calls letters etc)what she owed that money for, they realized later that she only owed 30... SO she payed them and the IRS is in the whole 20 bucks.


Was it worth it IRS? Really?
Its a crazy world.

[edit on 4-1-2009 by gimme_some_truth]

reply to post by gimme_some_truth


I love it how when you owe them money, apparently even if it is just a nickel, you are expected to pay it immediately. But God forbid THEY owe YOU anything!
Unbelievable.

The perplexed lawyer says he called an IRS 800 telephone number but gave up after spending a long time on hold.
IRS spokesman Luis D. Garcia says the agency doesn't comment on individual accounts.

If you dont answer, your account can go into collections, your credit ruined, bank account accessed, or worse...jailed.
If they dont answer the phone, just call back or sit on hold. If you dont get through to an agent, you could succumb to the previous statement.

So, either way, when it comes to the IRS, no matter what you do or dont do...if they want you, you are "got".

Then, when someone questions their shady actions, sorry...no comment.

Beyond that, I agree with everyone else about the absurdity of this notice.
They paid someone to research an account, create a document for this collection and stuff it in an envelope. They paid for postage and put it in the postal service. A series of employed individuals and computers sorted, routed and delivered the notice.
So, by this calculation, this notice likely cost the taxpaying public (including the person that received the notice) somewhere in the neighborhood of $10-12 USD to collect a nickel. There's your insanity.

The IRS is a scam. Plain and simple. One just has to read a couple of articles about the IRS to realize that they are up to no good. It's really nice when people speak out against the IRS and federal reserve and make them look foolish like Aaron Russo & Ron Paul.

I'd send them $204,379 in Zimbabwe Dollars to pay it off just to humor myself. If they want the five cents bad enough to waste my tax money to send me the notice, they can waste more of it to do the currency exchange and entertain me.

I guess he can just go ahead and divide it evenly among the bank CEO's and mail it directly to them. He could just mail off 5 checks for a penny each.

Skip the middle man, and send it on.

i saw a story similar to this where thery spent like $3.35 on a certified letter from the usps to inform the guy he still owed 35 cents on his bill

For a time I worked for the USPS, and they aren't much better. I remember putting notices in people's boxes saying that the USPS was holding some mail because the person still owed a penny or two.

Seriously, what about the time that it took me to sort that mail and deliver it. Nevermind the cost of the paper. Silly stuff.

Originally posted by Jay-in-AR
Yeah, it is pretty silly.
It cost much more money to even send the bill.

They lost money by sending. therefor they lost money by trying to collect money.

Maybe that is why our country is the way it is right now financially. Not just the IRS but that way of thinking.