The felon's IRS is a horror show

[pat_k]

Just sayin'

Unnecessary detail:
I filed my 2024 1040 on 12/09/2025. Yes. I seriously procrastinated. I knew the IRS would owe me money, so I knew there would be no late penalties, but I didn't realize how much they would owe me until I actually got around to doing the forms. Since I bought car in 2024 that is used 90% for business, I had a big "bonus" depreciation expense I hadn't figured in when I paid my estimated taxes. And with my income substantially reduced by the expense, I also had more in the way of tax credits for my Marketplace insurance.

The short story:
I've been looking forward to getting a check for just shy of $7,000, which is a lot of dough for me these days. According to the IRS, it would take 6 to 12 weeks, so the check should have come by early March, assuming 12 weeks.

When no check arrived, I tried calling. Waited on hold for more than an hour once but was disconnected before I got a human. Tried at different times. Wait times were consistently ridiculous, so I generally just hung up. I waited once when my phone told me the wait would be 45 min. Guess what? I was cut off after 30 min.

I said screw it, I would wait and try calling again if no check came in a couple weeks.

March 15 I get mail from the IRS. Whoopie.... Except, not so much. It was not a check. It was a letter.

The letter said I had entered the annual premiums on the Premium Tax Credit form when I should have entered the monthly premiums because one of three things applied.

The problem was that none of the three things applied. The only thing that could have conceivably applied is that the premiums hadn't been the same each month. Except that when I checked the 1095-A form from the exchange, the premiums WERE the same each month.

I thought about calling, but said fuck it, just redo the form entering the monthly premiums. Turns out that rounding made my tax credit a little bigger than the more accurate annual numbers.

They recommend sending the forms requested online via irs.gov/connect. As part of the process, you enter the control number from the letter you received. I entered the correct number without hyphens, as specified. Got an error. Restarted the process. Same error. Quadruple checked. Same error. Asked "the internet" and was advised to try at a different time because the system might be down. Tried at various times over the next couple days. Same error.

Another option is faxing the form -- an option that was made less attractive by the warning that due to the high volume, they could provide no confirmation of receipt. I gave up on the secure message option and faxed the forms today.

The letter says I will get a refund in 6 to 8 weeks, but I'm not holding my breath.

All this to correct a "problem" that didn't fucking exist in the first place.