IRS Servers Down During Crucial Week

crimeandpunishment writes "A planned server outage turned into an unplanned glitch for the Internal Revenue Service, and it comes at a very bad time. The IRS planned the server outage for the holiday weekend ... but today they couldn't get the system back into operation. This week is the deadline for filing 2009 tax returns for taxpayers who got extensions. So far it's not having a huge impact since the shutdown only involves the updated version of the e-filing system, and most programs used by large tax companies like H&R Block will default to the older version. There's no estimate on when the system will be back up."

Comments

Re:Depending on tax returns?

[afidel]

If you filed an extension it's unlikely you are getting a return (people getting money back are generally incentivized to get them done on time). OTOH if you are trying to get your return in on time to avoid penalties and interest that you probably can't afford then this might be a big deal.

Fine the Bastards

[Un pobre guey]

OK, when I fuck up on my return, I get bashed in the face by the IRS. When they fuck up on your tax returns, it's a "glitch."

Re:Fine the Bastards

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, when I've fucked up, they sent it back with a note saying that it appeared to be inaccurate, why it was inaccurate, and a number to call if I wanted the erroneuous one audited in lieu of correcting my mistake. All in all, not a problem, at all. Granted, it was a mistake, not fraud, but still, they were suprisingly non-hostile.

Re:Fine the Bastards

[the linux geek]

You're right that there's a double standard, but generally I'd argue that the IRS is actually pretty lenient. They give you a heads up and give you a chance to pay (eventually with modest fines) for quite a while before they start getting ugly. At that point, you may very well be SOL, but as long as you aren't deliberately trying to fuck them over there is plenty of opportunity to solve the problem with minimal inconvenience.

Re:Fine the Bastards

[Oxford_Comma_Lover]

> At that point, you may very well be SOL, but as long as you aren't deliberately trying to fuck them over there is plenty of opportunity to solve the problem with minimal inconvenience.

Usually, yes, but not always. A correction, if you make a mistake on your return, is very easy to pay, and there's no substantial penalty--nor should there be, given the complexity of the tax code. But being selected for a tax audit is about as much fun as pulling a Phineas Gage, and sometimes things that shouldn't kick one up do--for example, if you have fifteen children, the number of exemptions you claim will almost certainly cause you to be audited.

'Unplanned glitch'

[angry tapir]

Personally I like to plan my glitches.

Re:'Unplanned glitch'

[tool462]

Ditto. I schedule them for the day after I go on vacation to a remote tropical island with no cell reception or internet access.
It does two things for me:
1) I don't have to deal with fixing the glitch
2) It creates the impression that the company falls apart immediately if I'm not there.

Win freaking win, baby.

Re:Can't we just leave the IRS down permanently?

[jjohnson]

Ah, the bill purports to replace all sources of tax revenue with a national sales tax. Good luck with that.

Already an old story

[astro]

Perhaps I'm just not trying to use a part of the system that is down, but I filed for an extension this year, e-filed about 3 weeks ago, and got a very clear "Down For Maintenance" message when I went to check the status of my refund yesterday. The message included an estimated date for the system to be back up (10/12 - today), and indeed it was. Poking around a little, it appears that the rest of the e-file system is also functional at this time (though I don't care enough to do an exhaustive search for broken things, having fulfilled my immediate needs).

Re:Depending on tax returns?

[XanC]

That's "incited". There's no "incentivized" and no need for one; there's a perfectly good word already.

Re:can one file from a Linux-native program yet?

[afidel]

Yeah, I've been doing my federal return through H&R Block online for the last 5 years and only in 2005 did they require IE, since then it's been fine with Firefox.

"Holiday" weekend?

[plover]

I had to look at a calendar to figure out what the summary meant by "holiday weekend." It's hard to believe Columbus Day is still recognized by anyone after the fourth grade. 1492, Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria -- that's it. That's his entire legacy.

Really, the guy was a world-class failure. I mean if he had done his job right, these sentences would be in Italian. Even the guy who came after him managed to get the continents named for himself. Now, all he has is Columbia, and even they speak Spanish!

Re:Can't we just leave the IRS down permanently?

[jjohnson]

Okay, here's a non-FUD based criticism: sales taxes are heavily regressive. The less money you have, the more of your income is spent on taxable goods. The rich, the people who are most able to afford to pay taxes, pay an even smaller portion of their income in taxes than they would under a flat tax scheme. Contrary to the bill's stated intention of increasing class mobility, a national sales tax responsible for bearing the entire cost of the federal government would just dig the poverty trench deeper. The worse off you are now, you'll be even more worse off under a national sales tax plan. This plan would do more to obliterate the middle class and widen the gap between rich and poor than any other taxation plan available.

Re:Depending on tax returns?

[operagost]

Since this was the second time the word "return" was misused in this thread, I'd like to point out that you probably mean "refund". The "return" is the documentation you send to the IRS.

Re:Depending on tax returns?

[XanC]

What's wrong with "incite"? The only reason anybody uses "incentivize" is because he is ignorant of "incite". That's the primary reason that "incentivize" is awful.

Re:Can't we just leave the IRS down permanently?

[jjohnson]

A flat tax is conceptually egalitarian, but I don't think so in practice. It's nice and neat to say "everyone pays the same proportion of taxes", but I wouldn't call it egalitarian for someone earning $10,000/year to pay the same proportion as someone earning $10,000,000/year. It's the same basic issue as with a national sales tax: When you're poor you pretty much have to spend your entire income, but when you're rich you have plenty of extra to invest or save or whatever. Limiting the egalitarian-ness of the tax to their income figure ignores the lack of egalitarian standing in how their income is spent and affects their life.

Most flat tax advocates recognize this and provide a set of basic exemptions to poor people, but then you're essentially back to a progressive tax where the rich pay a larger proportion of their income than many of those with less money.

The basic problem with taxation schemes is that they unavoidably implement social policy. There's no such thing as a value-neutral tax--someone is always paying more and someone else is always paying less, and the person paying less is either being protected from an onerous burden or encouraged to use their money elsewhere somehow.

So, I think a progressive tax is most egalitarian when it's set up well to minimize the tax burden on everyone and provide for the greatest class mobility.