TAX REFUND

We have our taxes done each year by our accountant mainly to make sure there are no mistakes made.(math was not my forte) Even though we have no tax liabilities in Kansas anymore, we have to file a return in Kansas because Ken's retirement check is issued by his union in Kansas. Since we have no tax liabilities there, we always get back every penny that is taken out for income tax.

This year we have been waiting and waiting and no check has arrived. About a month ago I finally went to the State of Kansas web site to check the status of our refund and kept on getting a message stating that they had not determined the status of the refund and to check back. Last week I tried calling them (long distance) but kept getting a recording saying that all customer service reps were busy and to try back later. They had no option to be put on hold for the next available rep.

2 days and 30 long distance phone calls later, I emailed them. I was surprised that someone answered it. This person just told me that there was a problem with our return and we could either keep calling or wait until they contacted us.

Today I got back on the phone and was shocked when I finally got through to a living human being! Get this: we've been filing the same way (non-resident) for the past three years. The lady on the phone tells me the refund is being held up until they could verify that we are actually non-residents' of Kansas. WTF???

She asked me our address, ss #'s, and the date we moved here to Missouri. Then she says: "ok, it's all cleared up, you can expect your check in 7-10 days". Whoa, lady... I asked her why it took me calling them to clear it up and they had never called or sent a letter. It would seem to me that the best way they could verify our address would be to send a letter to see if it would be returned to them as 'undeliverable'. She said our return had been flagged for a service rep to follow up but they just had not gotten to it yet, but since I called, they did it immediately while they had me on the phone.

Ken has contacted his union for a change form. We are not going to have Kansas income taxes taken out of his check anymore. Our accountant told us the first year we lived here we could do that but it would be best not to just in case the State of Kansas ever decided to inquire as to why the union wasn't taking taxes out of the check. He said that would be very time consuming. Oh well, it'll be their time and their problem. We're legal and why should we let them use our money all year long?