After insisting that I underpaid my 2012 taxes and me sending them a check, the IRS has apparently changed its mind and sent the money back. (It says only "2012 refund.")

Does anyone have any experience with erroneous refunds? They clearly don't know what they're doing and I don't want to cash the check just to have them come back in six months or later demanding repayment plus interest.

:suspicious face emoticon:

:"It's a Trap!" Star Wars meme:

Have you called them?

Now that we are past the dreaded 4/15, I would call. In the meantime, cash the check and put it in an interest bearing account and DO NOT spend it. Hopefully, you have all of the proper documentation.

Something I learned from an accounting friend, who in the past worked for the IRS, MAKE THEM PROVE IT!

Call, insist, they send you the proper documentation that supports, the error.

They are paid by us the tax payer!

Thanks.

I'm really annoyed that the IRS is making me go to that much trouble over $400 but at the same time, $400 + penalty + interest would hurt me a bit.

It took 3 1/2 minutes just to work through the menu to get put on hold to talk someone. Now they're telling me I'm going to be on hold for 15-20 minutes.

FML.

I gave up. This is exactly why I didn't want to call the IRS - they screw up and now I have to waste time fixing their incompetence. Grrr.

15 to 20 minutes on hold isn't much. Yes it's an inconvenience, but better to deal with it now, then have it bite you in the butt later.

If I know I will be on hold for an extended amount of time, I'm just stubborn enough to stick it out. But I will put it on speaker phone and set the phone next to me while I do other things - cook, read, paint my nails etc. I think the longest I've been on hold was 45 minutes, in which I just carried my phone around on speaker phone in my pocket while I did other stuff.

Oh man, it sux for you to have to be inconvenienced but I strongly advise that you talk to someone, get their name, position, document the time you spoke to them...the IRS is AWFUL in the way that you might be treated and documentation and proof of your innocence is put on you..am I bitter? Oh yes

We were contacted by letter once, saying that we never filed for a certain year. We dug up our records, sent them, and ending fact was that YES we filed that year, of course, paid over $1,000.00 but were actually owed a refund!! and did we get that money back? NOOOO because it was past the statute of imitations (it was 5 or 7 years, I forget) which works in THEIR favor but NOT for the filer.

I am sorry to be so bitter but that was my experience.