Be sure to read part I below.

I was curious how my check could have landed in the hands of someone other than myself. The Secret Service said the refund had been mailed to the wrong address and the thief held it for a while before deciding to take the risk of cashing it. The address the check was sent to was an apartment I had lived in 3 years earlier.

I finally contacted the IRS and explained the situation. I asked why they sent my check to an address that was 3 years old. I explained that I had moved every year since then and filed two other returns with different addresses.

The condescending and somewhat presumptuous reply was, “You shouldn’t have used the address sticker from the booklet that you received in the mail...didn't you check the address?”. I wanted to crawl through the phone.

The following is a recount of the phone call from documentation I had kept in case I needed it:

Me: “So, this is my fault”
Her: “Yes sir, you should have written your address in by hand rather than relying on the information in our database”
Me: “Does anyone else rely on that data?”
Her: “We do”
Me: “but you’re advising me not to rely on it”
Her: “Not if the information is incorrect…it’s your responsibility to inform us if our data is outdated”
Me: “can I have access to your database?”
Her: “No sir, it’s a government system”
Me: “If you did send a booklet out it went to the address printed on the label. You told me I shouldn’t have used that label…correct?”
Her: "Well, sir, if it was the wrong address why did you use it?"
Me: "I didn't use it. I never recieved it. I don't live there anymore. I wrote my address in by hand"
*Pause*
Her: "So what's the problem sir?"

Anyway, you get the idea. This is typical of the customer service offered by the IRS. Establishing that the IRS was to blame for the blunder changed nothing. All it did was cause me to spend 10 minutes more on the phone with this idiot than necessary.

The next step was to begin the process of having a new check cut.

I found that a new check couldn’t be cut until the old one was voided and the Secret Service was holding that one as evidence.

Here’s the process:

1. The court to releases the check after the hearing (3-6 months)
2. The check is sent to Secret Service headquarters in Washington DC for processing and “voidance procedures” (1 month)
3. Voided check is returned to IRS in Ogden Utah for processing and verification (3 weeks)
4. New check is cut and mailed with the standard 6-8 week wait.

It was already July. I would likely have 1987’s refund before 1986’s refund.

I was livid so I called my congressional representative. It turns out that a low ranking military member that makes less than six figures per year doesn’t actually get to talk to a Congressman. I was referred to his representative in charge of IRS matters.

I told her my story and, to my delight, she was appalled. She said that the IRS acts like they own us and she’s dedicated her life to keeping them in check. I loved this woman. She told me that I would have my check in two months and there was nothing more I needed to do.

This information turned out to be inaccurate because I had my check in 3 weeks.

Be sure to vote.