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The State Plays Hardball, But So Do I

October 29, 2010 · By Sandy Smith

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If you’ve been following my saga about the state and some taxes that I owe, here’s an update on that situation.  No one has yet to be assigned to my file, however, I just received a notice in the mail stating that the state will “refer my debt to the U.S. Treasury Offset Program whereby any money owed to you by a federal agency may be subject to offset up to the amount of your debt.”

What does that mean?  It means that they’re telling the IRS that I owe NY some money in the hopes that when I file taxes at the end of the year, they can seize any refunds that I am owed.  Normally, the government owes me a refund of around $3,500  every year, but this year, I actually planned it where they would owe me about relatively little ($1,000).  Besides that, I know something that the state doesn’t know that I know…I don’t have to file my taxes next year! Shh!

Don’t tell them that I told you so, but when the government owes you money, you actually have 2 years to file and get that money back.  There is no penalty for filing your taxes late when the government owes you, but if you owe them, you have to file on time (unless you file an extension).  So ha!  Even though they want to seize my refund, they won’t get anything, because I’m not going to file my taxes until this situation is entirely resolved.  Since I have 2 years they can hold their breathes.  In fact, I was supposed to file an amendment for last year’s taxes with the state, because my company screwed up the W2 and unreported the amount of taxes that they withheld, but I haven’t done it yet.  So, the state actually doesn’t know that it already owes me money from last year in addition to this year that they could potentially seize if i filed.

I’ve sent in the documentation required and now I’m just waiting for someone to get “assigned” and process everything.  Instead, I get notifications that I guess are meant to scare me, but if you’re not doing your job, then I can be just as much of a bitch as you can be.  Okay, rant over.  Thanks.

About the Author

Sandy Smith

I started this blog years ago as a way of keeping myself accountable to my own debt reduction plans. Now I'm using this site to help others get out of debt, and learn about personal finance so that they can live their best lives.

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