The Tax Refund Debacle of 2011: Almost Over?

We submitted our tax return in February.

And we're still waiting for our refund check, as I've whined about...

here...

and here...

and here...

and finally here.

Over the last 9 months the IRS has gone from wanting more evidence (yes, receipts dating back to 2004, which we have!), to saying that we owe them over $6,000...to saying that they do owe us, but saying they owe us $6,000 less than we say they owe us.

The Tax Payer's Advocate office didn't get back to us quick enough, so we had to prepare this response to the IRS on our own again. We pointed out to the IRS that while they were correct in the amounts they claimed we received against the Adoption Tax Credit the past few years, they were incorrect in thinking those should be counted against Noah's adoption (in 2005)...they were all going against Elisabeth's adoption (2004). Jas included a very nice little spreadsheet to show them all four of our children, the corresponding tax credits/refunds (because it is different every year), and how we had had to roll Elisabeth's credit forward the fully allowed time (we just don't owe enough taxes in a year to use it up quicker). All that to say: they really do owe us ALL the money we say they owe us.

And after we faxed and mailed our response on Wednesday...the Tax Payer's Advocate office finally called us.

While they were too late to help us in responding to the IRS, we were encouraged by them telling us that we have a very solid and well-documented case. And - this is very good - they should be able to help us now by prompting the IRS to get our refund to us before the 8 weeks that the IRS says it will take. The Tax Payer's Advocate office says we should have an answer from the IRS by December 9th...and should have our refund at least by the end of December, but probably sooner.

The Lord is bringing this one down to the wire. If we don't have that tax refund in hand by the time we have Gabriel in hand, we're going to have to do some fancy footwork. But the Lord has us covered. It will work out fine...I just can't wait to see how He works the timing out on all this!