Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 18, 1995 TAG: 9507180076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE NOTE: BELOW LENGTH: Medium
When Herman and Irene Baggerly received a $9,100 refund check from the Internal Revenue Service in June, they had some idea of what it must be like to win the lottery.
After all, they had paid only about $1,000 in taxes for 1994. Irene Baggerly said she wondered if they could possibly have overpaid that much over a period of years.
A month later she got a letter demanding $9,100 in back taxes plus $67 in interest, and threatening to seize the Wytheville couple's property if the payment was not made.
"We previously sent you notices requesting the full amount you owe for this overdue tax, but have yet to receive it," the letter said.
It went on to say that, if the $9,167 was not paid by Aug. 8, the IRS could seize their property "without further notice to you. This means the law allows us to take your property or rights to property such as real estate and personal property (for example, automobiles and business assets ... .) We may also take your wages, bank accounts, commissions and other income."
"I almost passed out when I read their letter," Irene Baggerly said.
"We try to be good, honest American citizens, pay our taxes, abide by the law and vote in every election. This is what we get. Maybe this is one reason so many people are sick of what's going on."
She immediately dialed the IRS 800 number listed in the letter to get the matter straightened out. It was busy. She tried again. Ditto. And so on.
"I was seriously thinking about joining the militia when I was punching that redial button for 45 minutes," she said.
She finally reached someone who told her to record her complaint, and the IRS would get back to her in 30 days. She tried to explain that the deadline would have passed by then.
"They didn't care," she said. "They were just there answering their 800 number."
Eventually, she got through to a higher-up, who told her to hold on while he checked on their tax information in the IRS computer.
"I said, 'Don't you dare leave me!'" she recalled, fearing another 45 minutes of busy signals. "He said, 'I'm just going to put you on hold.'"
The man soon explained that someone had hit a wrong key, causing the refund check to be sent and then inadvertently counted as unpaid taxes.
He said the office had no record of the letter she had sent in June seeking an explanation for the refund. It apparently went to a different IRS office.
The Baggerlys were told to write "void" on the back of the check and return it, which they have done. They had placed it uncashed in a safety deposit box until they found out what was what, on the advice of an attorney.
"Please send us a letter saying your mistake has been corrected and our 1994 tax record is clear," Irene Baggerly wrote in an accompanying letter. They have not received a response.
They also made copies of the IRS letter and their own two letters and sent them to their two senators, their representative and President Clinton.
Harold Baggerly, a 60-year-old truck driver who is sometimes away for days at a time, said it was lucky the notice came before they had left for a planned vacation lasting several weeks. They could have come back to find their assets already tied up, he said.
"I'm getting fed up with government. ... I hate to be threatened, anyway," he fumed. "We tried to be the best citizens we could. ... We know that our Internal Revenue Service will check us every year, and we will be ready."
Irene's opinion is that whoever composed that letter "is lower than the belly of a snake." Citizens are innocent until proven guilty "except where the IRS is concerned," she said.
If the IRS had written saying that a discrepancy existed and asking that she explain it, she said, "then I would have done so. ... But this was uncalled for."
"I came in the house and she handed me that letter, and she was steamed up, whooeee!" Harold recalled.
Repeated calls by a reporter to the IRS office involved resulted only in a busy signal.
by CNB