Desperate States Try to Collect Taxes from Anybody They Can

[Earl Sinclair]

Yesterday I received two letters from the Oregon Department of Revenue, and State of Oregon, Employment Department.

Letter one said that they will garnish $4,343.00 from Wells Fargo against my account. The second letter said I hadn't submitted quarterly returns to Oregon for the unemployment insurance from 2016-to-date.

Hmm. That's nice. I don't HAVE a Wells Fargo account, as that was closed in 2004 - along with the corporation when I left Oregon for points East.

So, I called the number and spoke with one Richard Blommer. He said, and I'm not making this up - that my employee, "Miguel Flores" - a trucker - had said that I had employed him in 2015, and subsequently fired me, and Mr. Flores was demanding unemployment compensation from the state of Oregon.

Hmm. OK, the corporation in question, was Subchapter S and the only "employees" were my wife and myself. Furthermore - we're software engineers, and have no need for a trucker.

BESIDES THE CORPORATION WAS SHUT DOWN IN 2004!

Over-and-over again, Mr. Blommer kept referring to Flores as "your employee" as if that was a given. I kept saying over-and-over that Flores clearly filed a fraudulent claim for free money from the Unemployment Agency in Oregon, and my old company name came out of his - or the Unemployment Bureau's - nether regions.

I said, repeatedly, that I was outraged, and wanted to make him as uncomfortable as possible. My wife thought that honey might be more effective than vinegar, but I felt the case is so outrageously phony, that I didn't need to grovel and plead and send flowers to these clowns.

I then requested the name of the person that approved this travesty and he wouldn't reveal it. He also wouldn't reveal if Flores got any money. Since this is an expense against ME, I think I have a right to that info. We'll see, but I'm not holding my breath.

So, without an address, without ANY activity for 12 years, Oregon unilaterally re-opens my corporation for tax purposes and tries to ding me for $4,343 once it had a "legitimate" address - IN FREAKING NEW HAMPSHIRE. The only reason they got that is because I was looking for some paperwork from the State of Oregon last January.

I guess their computers are adequate for tax farming, but not for unemployment insurance fraud?

I mean, this is about as cliché as you can get! Spanish name, trucker, on the West Coast - looking for free money from the state.

One wonders how the IRS can possibly get defrauded - over-and-over again for tax refunds. Crap, I forget to dot-an-i and they'll ding me and withhold refunds, but they can't find tax defrauders?

Apparently not.

So, I'm still working through this, but they're threatening to steal money from bank accounts - and you know once they have it, you'll not see it again for months or years - or EVER.

The "funny" thing about this is that something VERY SIMILAR happened about five years ago, when we got a tax bill from the state of California!

That was for "only" about $2,000, and it arrived around 2013-2014.

Problem was, we left California in 1998!

We told them to eat our shorts. They said we didn't "properly close down our corporation, and pay California a fee of $700 for the privilege of closing said corporation."

We told them to eat our shorts.

Haven't heard from them, though I wouldn't be surprised if they pop-up again.

This is crazy.


Earl

[Miradus]

Heh. Sounds about right.

I got a bill from the business friendly state of Texas who wanted to collect on the vast profits I was raking in with my backwoods knife shop. They claimed I was using their roads to conduct my business, to which I pointed out that it was paid for twice already, both with fuel taxes and the USPS. Then they claimed they were owed the money because it was done within Texas borders. I couldn't argue that one, even though I'd paid the property taxes for that.

It was only about $75 so I finally paid it when they threatened arrest warrants. I thought I MIGHT end up coming back to Texas at some point and didn't want to be handcuffed at a funeral or something.

[Plainsman]

Ah, Tejas,

[Lenno]

Both are sanctuary states, turd world ethics. This is probably a scam being run through the state using illeagles as a front

[Idaho Bullwinkle]

The legal industry views an entry in a ledger or a piece of paper as evidence against you
when you must have a notarized affidavit and jump through other hoops to have your side accepted.....maybe.

[Miradus]

So true.

I remember all the hoops I had to jump through just to get a doing business as filed with the county so I could cash a check. Yet they can "prove" the existence of said business with a wave of their magic, tax-grabbing hand.

[Earl Sinclair]

So yesterday, the Oregon Employment Department acknowledged that they screwed up, and are sending an apology letter. They said, however, that I had to talk to the Oregon Department of Revenue ( DOR ) to get it all cleared-up.

I called the DOR this morning, and was handed-off ( so far ) to three different people. They can't find ANYTHING about me or my company. They keep asking for a "Letter ID" 0r "LIN" - which the letter does not have.

Then they said, that they thought it was a HOAX letter, and wanted me to fax it to them. I don't have a fax, and they won't accept an email with an attachment. *sigh*

Then they said, that in order to PROVE TO THEM that I didn't owe them taxes for the years in question, that I'd have to send them my STATE INCOME TAX RETURNS for the years in question. Aside from the ridiculousness of that demand, NEW HAMPSHIRE DOES NOT HAVE INCOME TAX. So - I can't send them. "That's fine, then send your FEDERAL returns to us."

I told them they were on drugs - I'm not sending those private documents all over the country to respond to an obviously bogus demand. ( In the meantime, these things are hurting my credit scores )

One tax building knows all about me, but the other knows nothing - except to put delinquent tax notices in public files which credit agencies use as part of your credit report.

The normal procedure for this kind of stuff is to eventually garnish money from bank accounts. They already tried that in a long-closed bank account, but they know where I live, and can start looking for banks in NH.

I am having to take quite a bit of time out of my work schedule to deal with this. I intend to bill them, and I'll hold my breath for payment.

=====

Just as a matter of - coincidence maybe?:

"Miguel Flores" - the trucker that filed the unemployment insurance claim did so in April, 2016.

The Oregon Department of Revenue's "new" computer system went online in - 2016.

Hmmm.

I know a *lot* about databases, especially the kind that the OLD system definitely used, and 99% chance the NEW system uses.

If the data got "polluted" or damaged during the change-over, that would explain everything without it having to be a fraudulent claim. That kind of "pollution" is VERY easy to do with the way databases are designed.

For geeks: Most relational "keys" are simple integers to other relations' records. Basically, an integer index with no further checking of any other fields. If an index file is damaged, this kind of "cross linking" happens ALL the time - very common, though less-so in the past decade or so. I prevent that myself, by making keys NON-integer "GUID" style, making it virtually impossible to get the wrong record. In the past I have also used TWO other fields as an additional cross-reference to ensure it doesn't happen.

I think their new database is damaged, and this kind of thing is happening all the time, or WILL be happening more in the future.

The saga continues.


Earl

[Miradus]

I run into that at least once a week, Earl. Some little fly-by-night contractor company with three Indian employees who can barely spell SQL do a major import with no foreign key constraints. They think because it didn't blow up in their face it completed without errors.

Meanwhile they've got garbage data in their CRM system which will persist for years.

[Earl Sinclair]

Well Miradus - this is a TAXING authority with the ability to steal money out of bank accounts, so it's pretty scary.

It's already affected my credit rating.

I have to send a total of NINE LETTERS - three to each credit agency with the letter from Oregon stating that the garnishes have been vacated. All that sh*t, however, stays in my file.

Thanks a freakin' lot, Oregon. Glad I left you.

Earl

[moestooge]

Don't forget the 7-cent tax on plastic grocery bags in Chicago.