WICHITA, Kansas -- A Wichita taxpayer received a letter from the IRS asking him if he wanted a replacement check. They said it's for a 2010 refund check he never cashed.
According to the taxpayer, he cashed that refund check back in 2011.
Larry Gray and his wife received this letter from the IRS concerning his 2010 refund check.
The letter reads,
"We previously sent you a refund check for the undisclosed amount. You didn't cash this check so it expired on November 18, 2012. We need you to call us before we can send you a replacement check."
"First thing I did is I went back to my accounts and discovered that I had that amount," said Gray. "It had been deposited in March of 2011 and the money is since gone."
Gray thought the letter was a scam, but turned out it wasn't.
He contacted the IRS hoping for answers, but they were just as confused as he was.
"I spent over an hour with the IRS and they indicated that they had no idea why we got the letter," said Gray. "They were not aware of any glitches in the system and they would have to do further research to get back to me."
KSN News did some research and had Tax Specialist Tim Kain from Tax Wise weigh in on the case.
Kain points out that cases like this rarely happens.
He believes an error could have been the problem.
"Could be the case," said Kain. "They haven't kept a good track of their checks that have been processed."
Gray said if error is the problem then he's concern for other taxpayers across Kansas.
"If other people are receiving these letters," said Gray. "I hope the government, the Internal Revenue Service gets their act together. I guess errors for humans is to screw things up requiring a computer."
The IRS told Gray when he called if he were to cash the replacement check for a refund that he had already cashed then by law, he's required to pay the refund back in full and penalties.
The IRS encourage you to check in with your local IRS office to follow up on the letter.
Visit the
IRS.gov website for more information.
