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State depletes man’s account in tax dispute

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

(Updated 11:29 pm)

Wire Reports

GREENSBORO — A local man said the state of North Carolina drained his bank account because officials mistakenly believed he owed them $5,000 in taxes.

WGHP (Fox, Channel 8) reports that Tommy Marx got a letter recently saying he owed North Carolina taxes from 2008. Marx said he moved to Oregon in 2008 to find a job.

Marx said his bank account is empty. Revenue officials said if an auditor thinks the state is owed money, an automated garnishment can be put into place.

Officials would not comment on Marx’s case, but said auditors review federal tax records to see if people are up to date on those payments. Marx said auditors tell him they are working to put the money back into his account.

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Tractor57

January 30, 2012 - 2:09 am EST

The fact the auditors are working to restore the funds is telling

The_Doctor

January 30, 2012 - 6:59 am EST

So if an auditor "thinks" you owe money to the state, they just engage in an "automated garnishment?"

How nice. Are we now guilty until proven innocent where taxes questions are concerned? What ever happened to "due process" in this country?

On the other hand, the story was somewhat vague about the situation. How long ago did he receive the letter about his taxes? Did he receive more than one letter? Did he respond? How long did it take between the letter about his tax situation and the actual garnishment of his funds?

Also, if this was a state tax issue, why did the spokesperson mention that they look at federal tax records to see if you're paid up? Isn't that the IRS's territory? Shouldn't a state tax agency be restricted to dealing with North Carolina taxes? I'm not a tax specialist, but it seems odd to me.

There may be more to the story than what was reported on the wire service, and this is why it's often problematic to run with a wire story without doing some digging yourself.

mumbarger

January 30, 2012 - 9:57 am EST

I can respond to the part about the state tax office looking at federal tax records. They do so in order to figure out who has paid federal but not state taxes, I am guessing. I moved to N.C. from Virginia on Dec. 27 many years ago. I did not work Dec. 27-31, and didn't start working in N.C. until after Jan. 1 of the next year. However, because I filed my taxes for Virginia from a N.C. address in April, they assumed that meant I owed them money on everything I had earned that previous year, by looking at my federal tax records. I didn't get a letter about the situation until nearly three years later, so it took them awhile to figure it out. I had to prove that I didn't live in N.C. for that tax year, which was a lot of fun.