4 ms·

I buy widespread incompetence in government IT management in general and the IRS in particular. (Not commenting on the political valence of this, in observance

by patio11 12y ago

I buy widespread incompetence in government IT management in general and the IRS in particular. (Not commenting on the political valence of this, in observance of the HN politics rule.) Last year, after requesting an ITIN for my wife (who is not a US citizen and thus requires an SSN-esque replacement to be able to file joint taxes), we received two letters from the IRS. One had the ITIN. The other denied our request for the ITIN on the basis that "We have already issued her an ITIN." Apparently, the IRS explains, that second letter should have immediately set my accountant and I to doing forensic debugging of their protocols, because it means that something "seriously wrong" happened to our returns. What? Glad you asked. See, the IRS had lost my return. "What?" The paper was "in the building somewhere" -- we had gotten a receipt -- but they were unaware of what desk it was at. (Their first hypothesis was "You failed to file", and they threatened penalties for that, until being confronted with a Post Office return receipt. Which is, by the by, why you should always get a receipt.) My accountant took over yelling at them for a while to find the return, and they eventually did, and -- miracle of miracles -- they typed it into the computer. Twice. Thus generating two separate and equal returns going through non-idempotent processes, such as ITIN generation. When those two returns met up in the reconciliation stage, they blocked each other from processing. No one at the IRS noticed this, for approximately 7 months, until my third call to their CS line got someone to actually look at the file. She hit "delete" on the duplicate. (I really hope she was simplifying that for me, because it scares me if they can actually delete anything.) Return processed almost immediately, refund check cut 48 hours later. I almost feel sorry for them on being unprepared to unearth potential political malfeasance, because that is after all a distraction from the day to day administration of the Revenue Code, but processing returns is, as the saying goes, "their only job."

whbk 12y ago
As someone who is currently in the midst of dealing with 2 separate (and seemingly completely siloed) departments at the IRS as a result of someone stealing my identity, this scares the crap out of me. I've dutifully and quickly followed each department's instructions, and am hoping with all my might that I'll be 100% in the clear after their 180 day (laughable itself) waiting period, but this just sent a shiver down my spine. Hope I get lucky!
001sky 12y ago
Tying the healthcare system into this mess was shockingly shortsighted, in retrospect.
- _delirium 12y ago
  My experience (fortunately relatively brief) of the American healthcare system's IT was that it could hardly get worse, although perhaps tempting fate is unwise. Lost records, insurance filings never coded or processed correctly; the only way anything got done was waiting on the phone for hours to get claims fixed, and photocopying records myself to have a copy I could physically carry somewhere. My favorite almost-worked-but-not-quite case was when an ophthalmologist managed (after 4 weeks) to get a copy of a retinal scan from my previous doctor in another city... but the photograph was sent as a completely unreadable fax, in the year 2010.
  - marincounty 12y ago
    Yes, the system is an embarrassment, but Obama knew the Only possible way to provide Americans with Insurance was to use for for profit insurance companies. I have huge concerns over health care, but at least I know I won't end up in Superior Court and lose my house if I get sick. I didn't have insurance when the Obama administration was trying to provide a Universal Healthcare Plan--the Republicans and even some Democrates were ruthless, and beyond dogmatic at attacking him. Obama knew if he didn't do something; we would have nothing! So Yes, Health Care is a mess and we need to fix it. I feel we need some drastic changes; We need tort reform for Doctors. We need to build more medical schools, and offer a free education to the best applicants. Many drugs should be OTC.(If people abuse the system--they would lose the privilege). Use of fingerprints could weed out the Narco pill poppers? Patients on long term, daily medication should be able to refill their prescriptions--up to a year.(This would include long term pain management drugs). I could go on and on, but we need to drastically change the system, or at least do pilot trials? I don't have all the answers; I'm just tired of doctors dragging me into office visits for no real reason--other than to take my money, or charge the Insurance companies. The next time your refills run out and you have to schedule an office visit you will know my frustration. I'm a Nobody, and basically just venting. Sorry about the lenght of this post.
aptwebapps 12y ago
"She hit "delete" on the duplicate. (I really hope she was simplifying that for me, because it scares me if they can actually delete anything.)" I read a blog post once by a former IRS employee who claimed to have been forced to run major sql commands against a live db in his boss's office with a bunch of other senior execs looking on. This was supposed to have happened in a regional office and the db was not of primary importance but not insignificant either. Wish I could remember where I read that ... Edit: Found it. Not exactly as I remember, but close enough: http://thedailywtf.com/Comments/Hastening-an-Inevitable.aspx?pg=3 http://thedailywtf.com/Comments/Hastening-an-Inevitable.aspx...
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

by patio11 12y ago

whbk 12y ago

As someone who is currently in the midst of dealing with 2 separate (and seemingly completely siloed) departments at the IRS as a result of someone stealing my identity, this scares the crap out of me. I've dutifully and quickly followed each department's instructions, and am hoping with all my might that I'll be 100% in the clear after their 180 day (laughable itself) waiting period, but this just sent a shiver down my spine. Hope I get lucky!

001sky 12y ago

Tying the healthcare system into this mess was shockingly shortsighted, in retrospect.

_delirium 12y ago
My experience (fortunately relatively brief) of the American healthcare system's IT was that it could hardly get worse, although perhaps tempting fate is unwise. Lost records, insurance filings never coded or processed correctly; the only way anything got done was waiting on the phone for hours to get claims fixed, and photocopying records myself to have a copy I could physically carry somewhere. My favorite almost-worked-but-not-quite case was when an ophthalmologist managed (after 4 weeks) to get a copy of a retinal scan from my previous doctor in another city... but the photograph was sent as a completely unreadable fax, in the year 2010.
- marincounty 12y ago
  Yes, the system is an embarrassment, but Obama knew the Only possible way to provide Americans with Insurance was to use for for profit insurance companies. I have huge concerns over health care, but at least I know I won't end up in Superior Court and lose my house if I get sick. I didn't have insurance when the Obama administration was trying to provide a Universal Healthcare Plan--the Republicans and even some Democrates were ruthless, and beyond dogmatic at attacking him. Obama knew if he didn't do something; we would have nothing! So Yes, Health Care is a mess and we need to fix it. I feel we need some drastic changes; We need tort reform for Doctors. We need to build more medical schools, and offer a free education to the best applicants. Many drugs should be OTC.(If people abuse the system--they would lose the privilege). Use of fingerprints could weed out the Narco pill poppers? Patients on long term, daily medication should be able to refill their prescriptions--up to a year.(This would include long term pain management drugs). I could go on and on, but we need to drastically change the system, or at least do pilot trials? I don't have all the answers; I'm just tired of doctors dragging me into office visits for no real reason--other than to take my money, or charge the Insurance companies. The next time your refills run out and you have to schedule an office visit you will know my frustration. I'm a Nobody, and basically just venting. Sorry about the lenght of this post.

aptwebapps 12y ago

"She hit "delete" on the duplicate. (I really hope she was simplifying that for me, because it scares me if they can actually delete anything.)" I read a blog post once by a former IRS employee who claimed to have been forced to run major sql commands against a live db in his boss's office with a bunch of other senior execs looking on. This was supposed to have happened in a regional office and the db was not of primary importance but not insignificant either. Wish I could remember where I read that ... Edit: Found it. Not exactly as I remember, but close enough: http://thedailywtf.com/Comments/Hastening-an-Inevitable.aspx?pg=3 http://thedailywtf.com/Comments/Hastening-an-Inevitable.aspx...

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]