IRS pulled my payment twice

[Critter-3]

You may want to contact a Taxpayer Advocate in your area since this situation has gone on way too long.  See this IRS website for Taxpayer Advocate in your area and a toll free number - http://www.irs.gov/Advocate/Local-Taxpayer-Advocate

[radiant63]

Yes, I know - this has been suggested several times so I am aware of this. I am still trying to pull a few strings to see if I can get some traction, but at some point I will be have to resort to contacting them.

[Jaucker]

So just wanted to notify anyone just in case it could help something. I am still waiting for my IRS refund from 2020. They pulled it twice and have not gotten back to me. I have contacted congress representative and have a case worker on my case but still havent gotten it. I am not sure what other actions I can take but I am extremely angery and bitter at our tax system and the IRS needs to be held accountable. I dont care how understaffed they are. Theyre a government branch and should be using our tax money more wisely to hire adequately and we should be able to contact them easily for issues. I cant even talk to a single person no matter what crazy sequence of numbers are online its impossible to get any sort of help. I hope my case worker can eventually get it but they have been working on it for a year and still nothing. Apparently the irs did send a check but i nevef got it and had to file another form to say i never got it... its so broken

[radiant63]

After exhausting about all my options with numerous calls and many hours to several the IRS departments and being bounced around the system like a pinball, and even trying to contact the federal reserve directly in my attempt to recover over $8000 from a duplicate payment transaction,  I filled out a 911 form and faxed it in begining of Sept. Didn't hear back after 30days, so I called the number on the instructions and I did not get an advocate, they just pushed me back into the pinball game. This happened twice.  Currently, the IRS Advocacy service is only assisting people who filed their 2020 returns by mail before June 2021! Pretty much all I have gotten from the IRS system over the past year is being endlessly transferred from department to department and nonone is willing or able to help. It always ends up in a dead end. At this point I can only ask for another 6mo extension before the IRS tries to garnish my wages. Something is very, very wrong.

[Tbarnes678]

I just had the IRS pull my tax payment twice from my bank account, essentially double charging me for my tax payment due.  The only system I used to file was e-file through TurboTax.  Neither Turbo tax nor the IRS appear to know what’s going on.

[DoninGA]

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@Tbarnes678 wrote:

I just had the IRS pull my tax payment twice from my bank account, essentially double charging me for my tax payment due.  The only system I used to file was e-file through TurboTax.  Neither Turbo tax nor the IRS appear to know what’s going on.

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Call the IRS: 1-800-829-1040 hours 7 AM - 7 PM local time Monday-Friday
When calling the IRS do NOT choose the first option re: "Refund", or it will send you to an automated phone line.
So after first choosing your language, then do NOT choose Option 1 (refund info). Choose option 2 for "personal income tax" instead.
Then press 1 for "form, tax history, or payment".
Then press 3 "for all other questions."
Then press 2 "for all other questions."
- When it asks you to enter your SSN or EIN to access your account information, don't enter anything.
- After it asks twice, you will get another menu.

Press 2 for personal or individual tax questions.
Then press 3 for all other inquiries
It should then transfer you to an agent.

[Jaucker]

So as you may have seen i had the same thing happen. Brace yourself because it is going to be a huge pain but you can cut the time in half compared to how i handled it. It took 3 years for me to get my money back. But what you need to do is contact your congressman's office. They have agents who help with this sort of thing. They have ways to get in contact with irs faster. Just keep in touch with your representative and you will eventually get it back. I bothered my rep once or twice a month to see where things were. So dont delay and call them! If theyre a good office you will get it. If not. You know you need to vote for someone else.

[Tbarnes678]

Thank you but I’ve tried that and talked to two different IRS agents and they are telling me I have to wait for them to show both payments as posted. I don’t have that luxury. My account is significantly overdrawn now.

[DoninGA]

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@Tbarnes678 wrote:

Thank you but I’ve tried that and talked to two different IRS agents and they are telling me I have to wait for them to show both payments as posted. I don’t have that luxury. My account is significantly overdrawn now.

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Understand and this is a burden on you.  However, only the IRS can provide you assistance on this problem.

[Jaucker]

You dont want the irs agents. You want your congressman's agents. Its literally your only option if you want results. I know your frustrated and pissed and money is tight. But as someone who went through it. You must contact your congressman's office not the irs. It takes some time but it is much faster than dealing with irs directly. 

[radiant63]

I never realized that I could get congressional assistance.  I have to agree that the IRS is incapable of solving this issue. The error in my case occurred at the Federal Reserve office that converts image checks to more economical ACH transfers where their internal duplicate checking may have failed. The Reserve simply dumps the info into the IRS system so they have no control. IRS Collections has been giving me extentions but just send me on my way hoping I can fix it myself. Tax Payer Assistance is totally backed up and will kick you back into the  phone system mightmare again. This was on my 2020 return, but way I handled it in the near near term was to claim the duplicate withdrawl as a taxes paid deduction on my 2021 return. Right now my IRS account is warning me that my wages are in danger of garnishment but they can't even get around to robbing me of even more money. They know there is a problem, so if I get a warning letter I can probably hold them off until things get straightened out. meanwhile I have stopped banging my head against the wall and instead just waiting for the IRS to make a move.

[wes847]

Same thing is happening to me - IRS is trying to charge $3,789 multiple times and now I have NSF fees from the bank. I'm considering just closing my account and opening a new one at the same bank.

The IRS is probably too busy refunding other double withdrawals since it seems to be happening to a lot of people. What a racket ..  our country's tax system is run by morons who should not be allowed to come near our bank accounts. I don't understand why employers and the IRS can't just keep EXACTLY what they need from paychecks. It would eliminate this whole unnecessary process of payment/tax returns.

[maruck]

I had to wait 6 months to get my money refunded back to me. Good luck!!

[radiant63]

Sorry that happened to you. I was fortunate that I had enough funds in that account to cover it, but the bank wasn't much help either. I kept thinking about all the folks that don't keep that much in their accounts. The problem would have been a lot less had I made the required quarterly payments that year for my contracting and avoided a huge payout  - which was then doubled! There is no way to accurately account for withholding for the future so that is why it is estimated and then made to balanced when all the factors have been determined.  The only way this could happen is if the IRS had absolute  control over the people. We don't want that.

[Critter-3]

I have never heard of the IRS or any state  trying to debit the account more than once.  Are you sure you didn't pay online at IRS.gov  AND  set up for a direct debit by the IRS (a common user error) ?

Going forward always keep the power in your hands ... in the program choose to pay the balance due by check then  either mail in the payment   OR  pay online directly  on the fed or state websites.