MA - More checks to IRS may be lost

By Dolores Kong, Globe Staff, 6/28/2001

More taxpayers are claiming their checks to the IRS were in the mail by mid-April, but the federal government has not deposited them.

The Internal Revenue Service confirmed this week that about 1,800 tax payments from residents of New England and upstate New York that were mailed to an IRS post office box in Pittsburgh have vanished. That number represents taxpayers who have called the IRS about checks that haven't cleared yet.

However, dozens of people contacted the Globe yesterday in response to a story about the missing taxpayer checks, saying they believe their own checks are among those that have disappeared. Some said they had already contacted the IRS about the problem.

Judging by some of the taxpayers who came forward yesterday, that 1,800 number may be about to increase.

When Michael Cahill first read about the missing checks, he immediately called the IRS and confirmed that the one he sent in April had not been received. He stopped payment on it and then drove in from the South Shore yesterday to hand over a replacement check to the IRS in Boston.

''They took my check and made a copy of my records. They couldn't have been more polite,'' said Cahill, who handed over the replacement check at the IRS office in the JFK federal building.

''Paying your taxes is a serious matter,'' he said. ''It doesn't matter whose fault it is. You want to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.''

What happened to the missing checks is unclear.

IRS spokeswoman Peggy Riley stuck by the 1,800 total yesterday and declined to speculate on how the checks might have disappeared, citing an ongoing investigation.

But some taxpayers say they believe the problem is bigger.

''I have a feeling it's more widespread,'' said David Green. The 74-year-old Chestnut Hill resident called the Globe last week about a four-figure check he sent as an estimated tax payment to the IRS by the filing deadline, but which never cleared. He stopped payment on that check and sent a replacement, along with supporting documentation.

Yesterday, his son Bruce decided to review his brokerage statements to see if the eight different tax-payment checks he wrote out of that account had cleared. ''Out of eight checks, only four cleared,'' said David Green, who added that his son then called the IRS.

''My son and I are both involved. It's got to be a bigger problem than they're admitting,'' he said.

The problem centers on checks sent near the filing deadline to the IRS post office box in Pittsburgh, along with certain 1040s (not 1040A or 1040EZ forms), estimated tax payment forms, and tax-filing extension forms, according to the IRS. Taxpayers who used a paid preparer are instructed to send their payment with a 1040-V form to the Pittsburgh address, while those who prepared their own taxes and used the 1040-V form are instructed to send checks to Andover, according to the IRS's Riley.

The IRS would not speculate on how the checks may have disappeared, but interviews with taxpayers and tax preparers hint at one possible scenario. Some tax payments sent by certified mail, with a return receipt requested, suggest the payments were received at Mellon Bank's lockbox facility in Pittsburgh and the tax forms forwarded to Andover - yet the checks were never deposited.

If checks sent by the April filing deadline haven't cleared yet, taxpayers should call the IRS at 800-829-1040 and have available their Social Security number, the date the returns and payments were sent, and the check number and amount. The IRS will then review its records to make sure payment hasn't been posted, and contact the taxpayer with further instructions.

Some taxpayers have been told by IRS officials answering the 800 number to stop checks and send replacement checks with supporting documentation to the same Pittsburgh post office address. But Riley said taxpayers should wait for a letter from the agency with further instructions, including a special address in Andover that has been set up to take the replacement checks, so that they won't be charged any interest and penalties.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/179/business/More_checks_to_IRS_may_be_lost+.shtml

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2001