Chuck and Hart – If this happened now, I probably would have been more level headed and effective. I was young, inexperienced and angry. Not a good combination for getting things done.

Keith, You make an excellent point. Actually, when I finally did go down to the office, the situation moved forward….

Thanks. Just imagine how other governments operate!!!!! And they want to bring health care into the system now??????

I had a similar experience with my local government concerning a minor parking violation that took over a year to fix. I find if at all possible it is best to make important payments in person at the local branch of that office.

A lot of people forget – that those people who fix things and THINK at the department, are not usually the same ones in the “receivables” or “Collection” department making the phone calls each day. It’s hard to complain about being harrassed by the IRS or CRA but, you are dealing with human beings there. You tell a collector to get lost “i paid” and he has a bad day – you may get flagged or a note added to your social insurance number as being uncooperative, etc.

They wil never say that’s true or possible .. but I believe it works that way in an informal way.

In 1988 were audited by the IRS. I was not worried; I have a reason for every deduction and I declare every cent of income. At the end, my wife and I received a $1200 REFUND, and a letter stating that they assumed we knew why we were getting the refund. We didn’t; neither did our accountant. However, the letter goes on, “If we are wrong, and we did not in fact owe you this money, you are subject to interest and penalties.”

Our accountant had a great laugh over this and put a copy of the letter up on his wall. His advice was to keep the refund in our “personal savings,” so that if the IRS changed their mind, we would still have it with interest. They didn’t. It is still part of our personal savings.

I am currently dealing with Medicare, the Department of Treasury, and now the Justice Dept. over a demand from Medicare for our insurance client to pay Medicare back $300,000 from Medicare claims paid for one of their employees from 2004 to 2008 when she deceased. Despite sending numerous letters and supportive documentation clearly proving that Medicare paid appropriately as did Blue Cross, this money is not owed Medicare nor is $300,000 nor the $28,000 in penalties and interest.

Medicare clearly stated that they are not able to view the supportive documentation because mail/faxes go into a mail room and is scanned in and then put into their computers. Turns out their “scanner” has been broken for months, and may not be repaired for many months more, and it is just too bad, as the interest/penalties accumulate.

To add insult to injury the woman I talked to laughed saying I was one of the lucky ones, there are many people out there in similar conditions where it was decided that they proved they did not owe the $, yet don’t know it, and won’t know it until the scanning is completed and meanwhile the interest/penalites accumulate for them.

I just read how much $ we tax payers have paid for recent Senate/House and other gov. agencies to go all over the world, probably for vacations but attaching a small business component so we tax payers pay their huge vacation trips. But they can’t repair a scanner, and are happy to have a huge mail room full of documents waiting to be scanned, if/ when the scanner is fixed. I have advised our client to not pay the $, it is not due Medicare. Another kicker is that Medicare and Dept. of Treasury said that if our client does not pay up, they will go into all their banking accounts and take out the $ and even if proven innocent, that money will not be returned. Huh?? Yep, was told that by several reps. Also Medicare said that if an individual on Medicare owes them $, they will be able to do the same thing and also take the homes and other property. Hugh?? This is new to me and I have been in this business for a number of years.