Let's hear it for the boy!

P took on the IRS and won, and that took some serious patience and tenacity. Those friendly government fellows were holding our 2010 tax refund hostage. And the best part is they imposed a $1,750 penalty for claiming an amount of money we never claimed. I'm usually the one who deals with bureaucratic BS, but P went at this like an enraged bull. He was advised "to just pay it," and I'm glad he did not listen.

When there's an adoption, the parents can claim up to $10,000, spread up to five years. This was because one could only claim up the amount owed only. In 2010 the credit was made fully refundable. That's right, you could get ten grand, a nice chunk of change after the cost of travel. We claimed the last portion that we were owed, somehow, someone changed that amount to $8,000. Then adding insult to injury we get a letter stating no refund, and that $1,750 fine. P spent hours on the phone trying to get a civil servant to answer what the hell was going on. He gathered his documents, receipts, a total of about 40 pages of documents. He also sent a kick ass, smart ass letter letting them know of his displeasure. In my former job it wasn't unusual for me to write 70 page long reports. Those of us in the court unit had a friendly rivalry, trying to outdo each other on how many insults we could throw in a report. No big deal, but since it is a document the parents, lawyers, and the judge will read, it must be done carefully. What can I say, it made the heavy subject matter more bearable. And since I excel at being a smart ass, I did very well. When I read P's letter, I had such a sense of pride. Dude could have outdone me in the veiled insult department. That's how good he was. And this admiration comes from the woman who got away with referring to a parent as an obligate parasite.

But I digress... Those sly folks did not seem to get the documents. They probably thought P would roll over. That added more fuel to my raging bull's fire. P began faxing the 40 pages daily, and kept it up until they acknowledged receiving them. That man can be stubborn when crossed.

About two weeks ago P left his phone home, and emailed me to ask me to charge it for him. As I was about to place it on the charger, the phone rang. I don't make it a habit to answer P's phone, and the number was from an area code I did not recognize. What the heck made me answer it is beyond me. The caller was the new IRS agent in charge of reviewing our claim. The first thing she said was that she was rescinding the penalty. She actually called the action absurd. I had to completely agree with her.

Yesterday the nice lady left a voice mail, we would receive our refund in six to eight weeks. We waited over a year, a few weeks won't matter. I must give P kudos for his tenacity. I think I would have given up at a point, telling them to shove the money in a very uncomfortable place. But to P it was about the principle, they enraged him because "they tried to diminish the legitimacy of my adoption." Told you, don't mess with the man's family.