A $14K tax bill from the IRS would freak anyone out, especially if the name on the bill seems suspicious. Here is what I did, if anyone else runs into this problem.
1. Googled National Financial Services, and was the phone # was for Fidelity Investments.
2. Called Fidelity - which I have a retirement account through work, they said they have no record of the account # I gave them and said they are NOT "National Financial Services" - but but but... I got a letter from the IRS, can you help me make sure there was no activity during the time in question?
3. Googled National Financial Services, found a local #, tried to call but of course they were closed because I'm on the west coast.
4. Started freaking out, maybe I was a victim of the Equifax breach and someone used my social to avoid paying taxes on pulling out retirement income.
5. Called IRS, waited on hold, while I was waiting on hold for 45 minutes I kept researching data breaches and that maybe someone used my SSN on a retirement fund to pull money out early and avoid the tax penalty
6. Still on hold with IRS, looked at the form code on the letter that it was a pre-tax rollover disbursement
7. Still on hold with IRS, went back into paranoid status - ready to post about this to all my friends on facebook that the Equifax breech was the reason from getting a $14K bill from IRS
8. Still on hold with IRS, starting to yell at husband for chewing his food too loud while I was on the phone
9. Still on hold with IRS while the recording pleaded with me not to hang up, I took this as a spiritual sign, had a moment of zen and decided to look through my fidelity accounts online - which was hard, because I was ready for that warm bath and a glass of wine
10. Searched for transactions during the time in question and an account rollover occurred for the same amount on the letter from IRS.
11. Started to wonder why Fidelity couldn't work with me a little more on the phone, like I was some rando crazy woman
12. Took a deep breath, went to print out the statement and send to IRS, still on hold after 45 minutes, started to worry that my cordless phone circa 2005 was going to run out of juice
13. Some weird noises come from my phone and I'm connected to a live person, I tell him about my roll over from a 457b to a 403c from Fidelity, answered a few questions for several minutes, then he says he has seen this "all the time", was going to remove the $14K bill and that we were "good", unless there is a government shutdown - and I won't get a letter closing the issue. I felt I was saved by an angel from the IRS - who knew after reading this entire store, this is how the story would end?
So... if this happens to you call the IRS, be patient, wait on hold, be very kind, if they you get a nice person they will resolve the issue if you can answer their questions. read more