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Miracles Do Occur - the Taxpayer Advocate Service
Saturday, July 18th, 2026 11:23 pmNot sure how much of it I've detailed here, but I've been trying for over a year to get my mother's final tax refund. IRS agrees it's owed and agrees the amount; they just won't hand it over. Different excuse every time, and every time involves literally hours on the phone (mostly on hold), getting disconnected and having to start over from scratch at least once, and a truly Kafka-esque level of bureaucratic run-around.
So on June 16th, when the promised check still didn't arrive and the IRS was refusing to even take calls, I hunted down a working number for the Taxpayer Advocate Service. Multiply tries and another hour on hold, but I finally got through to someone who said yes, it's just the sort of thing they look into, and told me all the additional docs I should submit along with the form 911. (Yeah, somebody at the IRS had a sense of humor about that one.) A few weeks later, I got a letter saying they were working on the case. And on Friday, one month exactly since the form went in the mail, I got a check! For the full amount plus interest, which was certainly owed but I wasn't going to pursue because I figured it would require a separate claim.
Okay, so they made it care-of me instead of to my mom, which meant my bank had to run it through my personal account before transferring the equivalent amount to the estate account -- but it got there! We actually have the refund!
And that means that, two and a half years after she passed, after having to extend the estate twice solely because of this refund, I can finally settle my mom's estate.
So on June 16th, when the promised check still didn't arrive and the IRS was refusing to even take calls, I hunted down a working number for the Taxpayer Advocate Service. Multiply tries and another hour on hold, but I finally got through to someone who said yes, it's just the sort of thing they look into, and told me all the additional docs I should submit along with the form 911. (Yeah, somebody at the IRS had a sense of humor about that one.) A few weeks later, I got a letter saying they were working on the case. And on Friday, one month exactly since the form went in the mail, I got a check! For the full amount plus interest, which was certainly owed but I wasn't going to pursue because I figured it would require a separate claim.
Okay, so they made it care-of me instead of to my mom, which meant my bank had to run it through my personal account before transferring the equivalent amount to the estate account -- but it got there! We actually have the refund!
And that means that, two and a half years after she passed, after having to extend the estate twice solely because of this refund, I can finally settle my mom's estate.