Esther and I got a scary piece of mail yesterday. The fine folks at the Internal Revenue Service sent our entire tax return back to us. Minus the accompanying check, of course.
A cover sheet said we had failed to sign the return, which we filed on a timely basis in October.
That sounds easy to fix, except for one thing: we did sign the return. If you turn to the second page of the return where it says “SIGN HERE,” you will see fine examples of both of our signatures. (You’ll just have to trust me on this – somehow I don’t feel like posting a scanned image of our tax return.)
So what happened? Our best guess, echoed by several others, is that the IRS thinks one of our signatures is photocopied.
They are not. Esther and I make a point of signing the tax form together. But this year we used a fine black pen (the Uniball Deluxe Micro, usually highly-recommended). It’s an excellent writing instrument but, to be fair to the IRS, the resulting signatures could be mistaken as photocopied. (Dear IRS: It would be nice if you mentioned this on the cover sheet.)
But, let me repeat again, they are not. Our signatures are originals. Part of me is tempted to go all CSI and find a lab to confirm that. But I think we will settle for a friendly note to the IRS.
And we will sign the returns again, this time in blue ink. Maybe with a Paper Mate Flair.
Considering the state of the Federal Government’s finances perhaps RED ink would be better.
I guess when the IRS discovers the existence of color copiers we’ll all have to get our signatures notarized. (hmm, note to self: Create some nationwide chain of quick-service, high-capacity, low cost structure notary public services. Build barriers to entry via economies of scale and efficient processes. Don’t forget to…ahem…”lobby” Congress for this new IRS requirement)
(Paul — good line re: red ink. Although, given that tax payments reduce red ink, perhaps the signature color should be green, not for the “color of money” but rather because green is the opposite of red on the color wheel)
Then again, how long will there be lots of people not filing completely electronically? Might not want to set up the Blockbusters (physical store chain) of tax return notarizing services.
So no e-filing for you?
I prefer the Pilot G-2 with the 07 tip.