God Bless The IRS

Consider this scenario: You have decent car, owned it for years, and managed to pay it off in December of 2008. The bank you used to finance the car has all the records on file that said loan has been paid, and is in agreement that no more money is owed. Now in 2009 you use the same bank to finance a new car. Payments are set up, and you make those payments religiously, being careful to write the acct #, the car make & model, and your SSN on each payment check. All goes smoothly until 2 weeks before the final payment is due you receive a letter from the bank stating you still owe the entire amount in full. After gathering up copies of all the payments that you mailed, as well as copies of the checks which have been endorsed and cashed by the bank, you call them up to see what has gone amiss. After several minutes of explaining the situation, then holding for ten minutes while they “check the account,” the representative comes back on the line to inform you they did receive all the payments in question. Where the problem arises is that the payment vouchers the bank sent you were correct in every way except they listed the name of the car you already paid off back in 2008. So the bank was applying those payments to the old account. After asking whether there was a balance owed on the old loan, she said “no, of course not.” But yet they were still cashing the checks, and keeping the money, all the while charging you a penalty on the late payments due on your current car loan. Most of us would be upset, possibly to the point of changing banking institutions altogether, right? Well now what if instead of a bank we are talking about our own government. Because that is exactly what the IRS has informed me happened to my checks I have been sending to pay off my 2009 taxes. They were applying the full payments toward my 2008 taxes; taxes which she admitted were paid in full. Had I not called to correct this, then what? They just keep the $2000.00 and go on their merry way? Last time I checked, that is fraud and a crime…. But not when the IRS is involved, nope they said it was my fault I did not see that they accidentally sent payment vouchers dated for 2008, and therefore I will be responsible for the late fees & fine that comes with being behind on my payments(even though they have the money & can see exactly when they received it). I was then treated as though I should be eternally grateful that they were even going to transfer the payments toward the balance due on my 2009 taxes. What a racket they have up there in Washington!