The IRS is incredibly behind in processing stuff.
My father never deposited a refund check for his/my late mother’s 2015 tax return…so they mailed him a new check, with interest, in July of last year.
However, right at the start of the pandemic, my father fell into severe dementia. It took a couple of months for the check to get forwarded to me. The check was too large to do a mobile deposit, and it took forever for me to find someone at his bank to tell me how to mail it in (closest branch 1000 miles away).
So I did…and the check was refused because it was made out to “Maphisto’s Dad and Maphisto’s Mom DECD”…and I didn’t have authority to endorse checks on behalf of my late mother.
So, I eventually get someone to give me instructions on how someone acting with POA can request a replacement check. I ship off that paperwork…and two months later, my father passed away.
A couple more months passed, because probate matters in that area are painfully slow due to COVID operating constraints, distance, and FedEx losing a check to pay for a probate bond…and I go into the local IRS office to find out what papers I need to file now because of that damned check. (I had hoped to do it over the phone, but every time I called the TCA, my call was dropped due to too many other callers into the system.)
At that visit, as we went over the additional paperwork I needed to file, the IRS guy said, “Are you sure you want to do this? We’re about 4-5 months behind in processing stuff; they’re probably cutting you a check now.”
Yes, I did want to file the damned forms; the way my luck on the matter had been running, I’d wait two months, get a check still made out to both of my dead parents, and have to start another 4+ month waiting period to get that check replaced.
As it is, this is probably going to create more paperwork. In the state where my father passed, you normally have 4 months after an estate is opened to get everything settled. If you go longer than that, you start having to make periodic appearances before the judge, start filing detailed accounting reports, incurring additional legal costs, etc. I’m probably going to have to keep an estate bank account open beyond that timeframe, because I’ll still be waiting on a check that might have my father’s name on it.
Life would have been MUCH simpler if my mom had trusted direct deposit.
