Letter from IRS

[ndrosen]

I received a letter from the IRS today, seeking additional payment with interest because my reported income doesn’t match what was reported by other sources. I did not intentionally cheat on my taxes, but it is possible that I entered a mistaken number somewhere; it is also possible, for example, that the Three Initial Corporation, for which I did not do any work, or the Fourth Bank of Oregon, where I do not have an account, credited a payment to someone else to my Social Security number.

Twenty years ago, when I filled out tax forms on paper, and kept copies, this would have been easier; now, I will need to deal with TurboTax and/or the IRS to find out what my tax return even says. The amount which the IRS wants is something that I can afford to pay; nonetheless, I’d rather not, especially if I was not the one who made a mess of things.

Comments

[selenite0]

Another possible explanation is identity theft. Someone may have submitted your SSN to an employer. Over a million illegal immigrants are doing that, per NYT.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/us/undocumented-worker-stolen-identity-dan-kluver.html

[ndrosen]

Good point; I’ll mention it if I can get through to someone at the IRS.

[dewline]

It's being made harder everywhere on Earth to file on actual paper in my opinion, which is an issue I'm not looking forward to seeing aggravated further next year.

[ndrosen]

Agreed, I didn’t like giving up paper, and not having paper records of my own. On the other hand, TurboTax is genuinely useful since my mother died, and inheriting my parents’ IRA made my finances more complicated.

[thewayne]

Another of the truly bizarre things about this nation: everything gets reported to the IRS, and then again we have to report everything to the IRS rather than them sending us a summary that we can double-check and confirm. Most other civilized countries the citizens don't have to do complicated returns annually.