WhatPISCATAWAY, N.J. (WPIX) — New Jersey resident Jeanette Carpenter is very much alive, but according to the Internal Revenue Service, she’s dead.

“My Social Security number belongs to a deceased person,” Carpenter said.

When Carpenter filed her 2020 taxes, her accountant received an unusual notice in return. Carpenter’s Social Security number belonged to someone who is dead.

“I asked them if they were getting me confused with my husband who passed away in 2009 and they said no,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter’s accountant refiled twice more and got the same response.

“What baffles me is I work for the government,” Carpenter said.

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Carpenter went to her local IRS office and refiled again in person, on paper. She said she was told everything looked good, and she would have her return in six to 12 weeks. However, she’s still waiting.

In April, Carpenter tried her luck with the Social Security Administration and received an official letter confirming her status as alive. But weeks later, she received a letter from the IRS saying her taxes couldn’t be processed because she was dead.

Carpenter said an IRS employee told her over the phone that her Social Security number was marked in 2010 as belonging to a deceased person and that the system was just catching up. She said it’s never been an issue when she’s the one who has owed money.

“I owed $1,300 in 2018. I put it in my account, woke up two days later and the IRS took the $1,300 that was owed to them,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter needs the money from her refund to catch up on medical bills from major surgery that left her out of work for four months in 2020.

Three weeks ago, she refiled her return again in person. She said an employee promised to overnight it to the government. That was the last she heard.

“There’s nothing. I can’t get through to them. I’m on a long hold and then they hang up. I haven’t gotten any of my stimulus checks. I can’t file my 2021 [taxes] until I see what they are going to do with the 2020 [taxes]. But I’m alive, in living color,” Carpenter said.

WPIX reached out to the Social Security Administration about Carpenter’s situation, but did not receive a response. The IRS said that federal employees cannot disclose tax return information.

LINK:
https://wgntv.com/news/woman-c...-irs-says-shes-dead/

She needs to contact her congressman and get a congressional investigation started as well as contacting the news media involved.... Have seen several times when getting a congressional investigation started things got solved in record time. .................. drill sgt.

Mrs. Flash worked for the County for many years, the last 11 in Behavioral Health Care (Mental Health). When she was on vacation, the woman handling her desk accidentally marked one of her clients as dead and sent the info to Social Security.

Took Mrs. Flash almost a year to bring her back to life.

Well if your dead do you have to pay taxes?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
She said it’s never been an issue when she’s the one who has owed money.

“I owed $1,300 in 2018. I put it in my account, woke up two days later and the IRS took the $1,300 that was owed to them,” Carpenter said.

And yet the IRS can't see that connection? Was a dead woman paying taxes?

This is why people hate the government.

A very similar thing happened to me. I was injured in a car accident and was out of work for a year. Once I could go back to work I called the social security office and instead of canceling my SS they declared me dead. Apparently once yo get on SS you typically don’t get off until you die. It took me 3 years to get that sorted out. Any time I would do anything involving finances they would always come back with it shows you died. Such a pain.

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
Well if your dead do you have to pay taxes?

That’s what I’m thinking. I’d trade that missed refund for never paying taxes the rest of my life.

It would be funny if she didn't need the money that much.

I feel for her.

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
Well if your dead do you have to pay taxes?

That’s what I’m thinking. I’d trade that missed refund for never paying taxes the rest of my life.

Me, too! I think I’d run with that!

The problem with these situations are automated data exchanges. Once SSA verifies that a death is erroneous, one input will reinstate the person. But the erroneous death stays with the other agencies until they clear them out too.