While frustration about your taxes is totally understandable, driving your car into an IRS office probably isn’t the best way to deal with it.
Then again, that move wasn’t quite as drastic as the one the office-ramming driver first threatened.
The 48-year-old Birmingham area man last week plowed his SUV into that city’s Taxpayer Assistance Center after first telling a police dispatcher he was going to kill himself by driving off a cliff. The incident had begun earlier in the day, according to the Birmingham News, when a phone conversation between the man, his wife and an IRS employee didn’t go so well.
Things just got worse for the guy after that.
The good news is that although the IRS office was open and other taxpayers were there, only one worker was slightly injured when she was startled by the impact of the vehicle and reacted.
The building’s security guard, as well as special agents with the IRS Criminal Investigation division and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration office who were in the building, converged on the man, who was first taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
No word as to whether it was the emergency room or psych ward
Other tax assistance options: If you have an issue with the IRS, give a call to the Taxpayer Advocate Service. Although it’s part of the IRS, it is an independent organization created to help taxpayers resolve tax problems.
This isn’t an office to get your refund more quickly. Rather, it’s for folks who have a persistent issue that they just haven’t been able to straighten out by going through regular IRS channels. It’s also the place to call if your tax troubles are causing serious financial difficulties or if you believe that an IRS system or procedure is not
working as it should.
There’s at least one local Taxpayer Advocate in every state.
This interactive map will help you find the nearest Taxpayer Advocate Office. You also can call the Taxpayer Advocate Service case intake line at 1-877-777-4778 to see if your situation qualifies you for the free assistance.
Sign image courtesy of Neon-Signs.com.
