Don't Forget the Tax Man

In 2000 I purchased a Semi tractor and flatbed trailer. I leased it onto a company that I will call T-Haulers for the purposes of this article. The lease was signed and I loaded the first load on January 16^th. I did very well with the truck and was actually getting ahead of past debts.

It was in September of the same year that I got a phone call in the wee hours of a Sunday morning. It was the local police department and I was asked to come to the repair garage where I parked the rig when I was home. Another driver from a sister company had parked his rig next to mine the night before and when he left, turning to sharply and to soon he pulled his trailer over the hood of my truck destroying it.

I was quite impressed with my insurance company as I had the go ahead to have the rig fixed within hours. I took it to a local body shop for an estimate and was told that they could have my lights repaired right away so that I could at least deliver the load that was on the trailer. They promised to have the full estimate worked up by the time I returned the next day. Had I followed this plan, I believe that everything would have been fine. But, I didn't. I fell for a sad story and hired the friend of a friend that was reported to be one of the best body repairman in the business. He had fell on hard times, lost his job and was expecting his first child. He had my truck torn down withing two days and we went together to purchase the supplies that he would need. Six and a half weeks later I camped out at the repair garage and practically hand fed him to get what little work he did out of him. I later learned that he lost his job due to a severe drug dependancy.

I was soon homeless and my belongings were stored at a commercial storage facility that I could not afford. I was staying with a friend on the days that I was not working. It took over two months to get my unpainted truck back on the road. I hauled three loads and after loading a fourth I went to my friends to take a shower and get a clean change of clothes. Returning to the lot I parked the truck in I found it had been repossessed. Every dime I had made on the three previous loads had been sent to the finance company but it just wasn't enough. A week later, the storage shed that all my furnishings and personal items had been stored in was auctioned off.

The last week of January 2001, I called the company that I had leased the truck through to give them an address to send my year-end paperwork to. I was informed that the paperwork had already been sent to my former address and that they had fulfilled their legal duties in this matter. It is now January of 2007 and I have yet to convince these people to send me copies of that paperwork. My copies of receipts were in the storage unit that was auctioned off.

Having no way to estimate the tax debt myself and no money to hire an accountant or lawyer I found that I was responsible for taxes on every dime the truck generated with no possibility of deductions.

Fast forward to February of 2006. I got my W-2 forms a little earlier than expected and had then in the mail with my tax forms the next day. It has been my experience that I will receive a notice from the I.R.S. within a month telling me that my return has been credited to my tax debt from 2001. I was sure that the only reason this notice was delayed this year was that I had sent my forms in earlier than usual.

The week of the April 15^th deadline I had still not received any notification so I sent a letter of inquiry to the I.R.S. in Kansas City where I sent my forms and W-2 report. I got no response. It was about this time that I became seriously ill and forgot about it until December. It was the week after Christmas that I sent another letter.

Last Friday, January 12, 2007, I finally got a letter from the I.R.S. I was informed that if I did not contact their offices within ten days I would be audited. I was given the option of sending in my 2005 tax forms as long as they arrived by that deadline. The letter was mailed on the last business day of 2006. Today was Marin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday making tomorrow the fifteenth day after that letter was mailed and the last day I can contact the I.R.S. I don't think they will receive another copy of my tax return in time.