Posted by Robert Davis on September 17, 1997 at 16:38:03:
I filed our 1040 on April 15, 1997, noticed by our third bank statement that the enclosed check had not cleared. We immediately contacted the IRS who said they had no record of our return. We immediately refiled and were later charged interest, but no penalty, by an IRS form-type letter. We wrote a written appeal which (I think) was denied.
The form was not sent registered mail, but we showed that the money (five figure amount) was transferred from an interest bearing account to our non-interest bearing account where it stayed for the period in question. We also showed a stop payment on the check with the right sequence number for April 15th. Additionally, we showed documentation of a lost mail search request to the U.S. Post Office.
I have received the "Appeal rights and Prepartation of Protests for Unagreed Cases", pub. 5 and plan to send another written response, but to who (it is still not clear from the last letter and pub. 5).
It seems to me that the IRS is required to prove that I did not file on time, since they are the ones making claim of wrong doing, and of course they cannot. However, they will try to make me prove that I did fle on time, which does not seem to be proper procedure as applied under law as I know it.
Any suggestions would help. Thanks in advance.