I just had an extraordinarily irritating interaction with the North Carolina Department of Revenue. I had gone to their website to find out what had happened to our refund. The website could not help me, but instead directed me to a phone number and then gave incorrect instructions on which options to choose. After about ten minutes of stumbling through their byzantine phone menus, I finally got to a person … who could not help me, since my tax return was over a certain size. She forwarded me to another person, who also could not help me. After yet another transfer, I finally got to someone who knew what was going on and could help.
It turns out that North Carolina has placed tax returns over a certain dollar amount into a “pending” category. Since I called, the DOR employee removed the “pending” on my tax return so that it could be processed. I asked her how long it would have taken if I hadn’t called: she said that they usually get to the “pending” returns in September.
This troubles me for a large number of reasons. One is that the NCDOR is clearly trying to delay tax returns while mitigating public perception of the problem. Otherwise, why would they release a large tax return simply because I called? And apparently, this has been happening quite a bit – there are a large number of news stories from the March-April time frame talking about delays in North Carolina tax returns due to budget issues. One article said that the legal deadline for the state to return tax refunds is June 30th. June is obviously not September, though I’m sure there is some sort of loophole for the “pending” returns.
Another reason is this: the only reason my wife and I have a large return is because we can’t figure out how to stop the state from collecting too much in taxes in our situation. The rules change every year, and we have to have an accountant to keep up with it. This is not the first time that it has happened, and it won’t be the last – but there’s no way that we know of to stop it. The tax code has essentially resulted in a large yearly interest-free loan from us to the North Carolina government – and now they are trying to extend the term of the loan.
Finally, why is this even a problem? Is our state government so incompetent that they don’t account for tax refunds? Why, exactly, are tax refunds, money that doesn’t legally belong to the state, a lower priority than anything else in the budget?
So I’m late to the party on getting screwed by the NCDOR, which is cold comfort. I wonder how long it will take to get our refund now that it is not in “pending” status.
EDIT (July 1, 2009): It took less than a week after I called to get our refund. Which is great for the people who call … what about everyone else?
