On September 23, 2005, the Internal Revenue Service began sending notices to tax payers in thirteen states that there may be a problem with their tax payments. Here is the scoop.

Traffic School?

It seems one of the trucks carrying the payments was involved in a traffic accident and the payments were lost. The accident actually occurred in San Mateo, California and resulted in…wait, I have to stop laughing. Okay. Deep breathe. The tax documents were “ejected into the bay” and can’t be recovered! There must be a couple of great white sharks wondering what is going on.

The payments in question are estimated tax payments made by anyone to the San Francisco mail box for the IRS in the first few weeks of September. Yes, the IRS uses drop mail boxes like everyone else. How encouraging.

The little traffic snafu suffered by the IRS apparently wasn’t so little. The service is reporting that as many as 30,000 estimated tax payments from individuals and businesses in 13 states may have been lost.

Who knew the IRS used monster trucks? Instead of “Grave Digger”, the truck must have been called “Every last penny you have Digger.”

Anyway, taxpayers located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming may have seen there tax payments deep sixed. In a particularly cheeky announcement, the IRS wishes to assure taxpayers that it will help make sure the tax snafu is fixed up.

Anyone up for a dive?

Check Your Debits

If you think you might be a victim of the IRS traffic accident, just check any estimated tax payments made to see if processing occurred. If all else fails, rest assured the IRS will let you know if there is a problem.

While the above article may seem like a bad Saturday Night Live skit, it is real. I can’t wait to see the next notice from the IRS about an agent’s dog eating 50,000 or so tax returns.

Richard A. Chapo is with http://www.businesstaxrecovery.com - Stop overpaying small business taxes. Visit http://www.businesstaxrecovery.com/articles to read more business tax articles about tax relief and tax help.

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