My idiocy first: I did make a big mistake on our joint 2008 taxes. I got mail audited, and when I agreed to my mistake, I called for a total and sent in a big check. They put a little cushion in that total to account for compounding, and sent me back a small refund.‡
First idiocy: now they have sent me a bill for what we already paid.
Second idiocy: they also sent a bill to my wife for the same amount.
Here’s what I want to know: how many couples pay both of them? It would seem to me that this mistake must occur thousands of times a year, and must entail some short-run financial hardship until the duplicate payment is returned.
‡ Even Ph.D’s make mistakes when an item has to be subtracted out, then added back, then have tax calculated on that subtotal, and then have the item added in once more. I missed one of those four, for my own bit of idiocy.
