Maybe The Rule of Law Does Not Suck

April 7, 2010 — In my last blog I took a healthy swipe at The Rule of Law. Anyone that knows me realizes that I do have a complete respect for the laws of this land. It was not my intention to indicate otherwise in my last blog. Since writing that story the picture it painted has changed.

When my friend and his wife completed their 2009 tax return, they did so under my guidance. In fact I completed the forms including the Injured Spouse Allocation. In signing the return they indicated that I was a Third Party Designee on the return so that if problems arose then the IRS would have to talk to me. We are so glad we did this and their is value to you in our story here.

In a call I made this past Monday to the IRS, I was able to ascertain that the return was not adjudicated properly. The IRS Customer Service Rep I dealt with over the phone was extremely helpful. In her examination of the record in the IRS system it was clear to her that the Injured Spouse Allocation form was ignored by the adjudicator even though it was present and available to that individual. This resulted in the applicable IRS code not being applied appropriately...my friends refund being incorrectly applied to his wife's debt and all sort of ill feelings being generated.

Here is my point. Don't ever take No for an answer until you have exhausted all legal recourse. Question everything that does not make sense to you until you are provided with a sound answer irregardless of whether it is one you want to hear or not. My friends return has been given back to the original adjudicator who must now apply the appropriate IRS codes, make the necessary changes, do the right thing, and do so within 30-days. This story will have a much more happy ending.

So, my faith in the system...my respect for The Rule of Law is restored...and again I must note that I never really thought that The Rule of Law sucks because it doesn't...it is what really matters!