IRS lifted a $79,064 tax lien on Schwarzenegger

[kcjenkins]

The Internal Revenue Service has lifted a $79,064 tax lien on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A computer glitch in Schwarzenegger’s payroll tax records in 2004 and 2005 prompted the IRS to begin investigating the former action star and bodybuilder (see IRS Places $79,064 Lien on Schwarzenegger). The IRS placed the lien last May in the mistaken belief that Schwarzenegger had not paid payroll taxes for his household help when he actually had, according to the governor’s office.

Schwarzenegger did not know until late last year that the IRS had been sending notices to his home instead of his office because he does not receive mail at home as a security precaution, according to the Associated Press.

Schwarzenegger will still be assessed $20.50 for administrative fees, but that’s far less than the original lien of nearly $80,000. The IRS released the lien on Jan. 20, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

[Catherine]

So the lien and the problem are Terminated?

[kcjenkins]

Yes, but not the fee. What a crock.

[jainen]

>>still charging him a fee for THEIR mistake <<

According to the article, the mistake was in "Schwarzenegger’s payroll tax records." And you gotta love the chutzpah of saying that as a security measure he doesn't pay any attention to who is contacting him.

[kcjenkins]

You are distorting that, Jainen. The problem was in THE IRS RECORD, not in what was filed. His reports were filed correctly, the IRS thought there was no report filed becausre they were looking for it in the wrong place. And he did not get the notice because he does not get any mail there, not because he ignored it.

[jainen]

>>His reports were filed correctly<<

In my opinion the celebrity got more notice than was warranted, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it was an IRS problem. According to someone the L.A. Times identifies as his business manager, the taxpayer used his SSN on IRS forms while reporting the same payments to Social Security under a different EIN. And it is very well established that the IRS only has to send notices to the address on the tax return. But it does make for mighty fine publicity in an election year.

[Pacun]

About 18 years ago, my employer made a mistake on my W2. I reported the mistake to my employer and a W2C was issued to me and sent to the IRS by the employer. Two years later, I got a letter stating that I owed the IRS 3K and that I had 90 days to take them to court. A petition to the court was made and while waiting for the court date, the IRS contacted me and they said that they were sorry because they did get a W2C from the employer. They told me to ignore the court date because I was right. Later on I got a later stating that I only owed them about $800. By this time the court date was gone. I called the IRS and they told me that I had to pay $800 because of the fact that my return was audited. I explained to the agent that I didn't make any mistake and that my employer provided a timely W2C to the IRS. Agent said that I had to pay and I DID. Is that fair?

[jainen]

>>Is that fair?<<

My definition of "fair" is that everyone has equal access to the same rights and benefits. I know that exercising your rights can be complicated, though, which is why professionals are available to help. In my opinion nobody should sue the government without a lawyer, and a lawyer would certainly not have let you "ignore the court date."

In the years since your unfortunate miscommunication, additional protections have been developed so that now you can sometimes get assessments changed even after it's been to court.