The burden of proof?

Meager1

Meager1

Dagobah Resident
Just found out that I`m being audited by the IRS for my 2008 tax return.

Seems that another person also claimed my son on their return for that year and the tax people will not tell me who that person is, since they have "a right" to privacy!

Whom ever this person is, has fraudulently claimed "my" child, yet they have a right to privacy and don`t need to do anything, because apparently, they filed their return (before me), so I am the one who has to go and get school records, medical documents, etc, etc, and provide the (burden of proof) that the child who has lived with me and been in my sole custody since birth, actually lives with me!

I went to H& R Block for help, after several letters back and forth with the IRS were unproductive and H&R told me that it could have been anyone who had access to his S.S number.

So beware folks, anyone can claim "your child" on their tax return, and the "burden of proof" that the child is really yours, and lives with you, is with you.. so make sure y`all keep good records and expect the unexpected, since it getting more and more ridiculous "out there" by the day!

I have also just recently had about 20 of my best chickens stolen right out of the pen..so if I was a suspicious person, I might think I was being picked on for some reason, or another. Jeez.
 
Amazing, but not surprising. I was audited years ago when I was a lowly State worker, single parent, living with my mother and grandmother. Since I was the main breadwinner, I claimed both my mother and grandmother as dependents. In the end, it was disallowed because my mother was the owner of the house and that was considered a contribution of "income" more or less. I had to pay back 600 bux.

Now, come on, puhleeeze... they go after little people and crummy amounts of money when the big corporations are ripping off the whole country right and left???
 
Well I would have thought the same, since you were paying the bills and they were dependent on you paying them!

Whats so flabbergasting to me, is that I have sent them all the "proofs" they required, birth certificate, rent receipts, school records that clearly state "mother has full custody", also copies of doctors appointments he had that year, where the nurse specifically wrote on there "brought by Mom" , etc, etc, and this isn`t enough for them.

They are demanding back almost $4,000 from me!

Lol, what pocket am I supose to pull that out of!!!!

Apparently, someone has to pay the money back since they payed two people for the same child. Ya`d think they would have a better operating system then that..they know every time you spit, so you`d think they`d know they were paying twice on the same child..,or, they would have figured it out before four years had passed!

And apparently, it doesn`t matter if the other person has no proof what`s so ever that they have anything to do with my son, as long as they filed first, they are protected by some first filer law..and the burden of proof falls on me as the "second" filer!

How ridicules is that! As if it`s my fault they payed someone else too? Jeez.

I had to get a Taxpayers Advocate to intervene and deal with them, for me.

I have had to file fraud papers as well, on (an unknown) since I have no clue who else claimed by son! What a world.
 
A good friend of mine JUST went through this agonizing process, and I have a feeling it was a very similar situation. She had to spend months proving (and not being believed) that she was the single mother of her child. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to ask her and get back to you with any info I receive.

I hope it goes a little more smoothly for you, that just sounds like no fun at all. :(
 
Thanks Jason, any advice would be appreciated.

It is mostly single mothers that are targeted in this particular scam, no doubt.

When you think about it, how easy would it be for someone who knows a single mother is unemployed, or whatever, and just claims her child or children, because they know she probably wouldn`t be claiming them herself, in any given year.

Seems like this would be a pretty big scam, that probably gets repeated over and over again and they would only get caught if a refund went out to two different people, like in my case, but if I hadn`t been working and hadn`t filed myself..I would never have known that another person was claiming my child either.
I bet this happens a lot more then we might think!
 
Jason said:
A good friend of mine JUST went through this agonizing process, and I have a feeling it was a very similar situation. She had to spend months proving (and not being believed) that she was the single mother of her child. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to ask her and get back to you with any info I receive.

I hope it goes a little more smoothly for you, that just sounds like no fun at all.
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me as well when my ex-wife claimed my son on her taxes a few years ago. I had to get written statements from his school stating that he did indeed attend, copies of previous income tax returns, copies of house payments and utility bills, and undergo an interview and investigation by the IRS officer assigned to the case. Needless to say this caused a lot of stress, but I busied myself getting all the paperwork together and did my best not to panic.

Long story short the officer ruled in my favor but I felt like I was guilty until proven innocent. The process took several months, most of that time was spent waiting.

I think it helped that I was co-operative, and followed the instructions of the case officer and was objective as possible during the phone interview.
 
In Canada, the CRA has a reputation for going after single mothers as well. From the horror stories I've heard, it seems that CRA is staffed mainly by psychopaths who get their jollies inflicting pain and suffering on the weak and helpless,
Not really surprising though.
Makes me angry.
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
 
I explained the situation to my friend, and I will quote the response here verbatim:

Jason's friend said:
Send all information to prove she is a single mom. Birth certificate, custody agreement, medical insurance payments, daycare etc. I'm still going through it. 1 year later. Tell her to ask for a tax advocate
Click to expand...

I think she uses FB from her phone, hence the short response. I hope this helps, and if you have any other more specific questions feel free to post here or send me a PM if necessary.

Best of luck to you, hope it works out better...
 
Thanks Jason.

Yes, I`ve already done all that, as well as contacting the tax advocate people and sending them copies of everything. I have also filed the fraud papers on an "unknown" and like your friend, it seems to be a matter of waiting for the next round of "proofs" they will request, since they are never satisfied with what you send and always want even more!

I have had to send documents at least 3 times already, yet it is never enough apparently.

I wonder what happens when a person finally runs out of proofs.. what a crazy situation!
 
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