The IRS lost my tax return and I have a certified receipt. Can I sue them for negligence of federal property?

I sent my tax return in via certified mail and the irs lost my return. They processed my payment that was with the return but lost the actual return and they are requesting I send it back in. They are expecting me to pay a outrageous amount of money based on w-9 that have been sent to them. I have requested a reconsideration of my return. My money has been tied up on this since may and now it is december. Is there any way to make them pay interest on my money and maybe compensate me for my time? Can I sue them for negligence of federal property? I can appreciate both of your answers, Bostonian, and GNA. Thank you. BUT! GNA it was stamped by the IRS as received and it does become the federal goverments property at that time. The money that I refer to is the money between the date of may and december. yes that is money that i owe but it has not been applied , so officially it is still my money. thanks for all your answers, but some of you "top contributors" must be reading something into this that is not. Lesson read completely, then answer. Don't assume you know what has happened. Also V.B. , do you work for the IRS?? Your answer is about as confusing as the tax law itself. Take assume out of your mind, because you have assumed a lot out of what little I wrote. VB your like one of my friends. If the goverment told something, even though he didnt agree with it he would just do it because it must be correct because the goverment said so. Give me a break. That's why our country is in the state it is in now because people just lay down to them.

Public Comments

1. Since you have proof of mailing, all you need to do is send them a copy of that and the return as filed. What's so hard about that?? FYI, you cannot sue the Federal government or any of its agencies or instrumentalities until you have first pursued relief under the Federal Tort Claims Act. And with the IRS your normal route is throuth the Tax Court first, even before you look into FTCA action.
2. Think about it, you have two options: 1. Send them a copy of the original information and get a copy of the canceled check or your money order receipt. Put it in a certified envelope and mail it to them with a statements proving you did this once. or 2. Expect to become the poster child for how the IRS can harass you legally, for as long as you live. I say that in fun, sorta. Seriously, no you can not sue the IRS. How much money and time do you have? Triple it for what they have to come back at you. As for making them pay you interest on your money. What money? If you owed them, you have no 'money' invested to earn interest on. As for compensating you for your time, ain't going to happen. Negligence of federal property. Stop dreaming because your tax return isn't federal property until and unless the IRS or another government agency stamps it as 'received. Property of....' whichever agency has it.
3. I am deleting my comments because you refuse to listen to them. Many of the people on the board work with the IRS regularly and are familiar with IRS time frames and the sequence of IRS notices. Everyone has offered suggestions based on the scraps of information you have provided. If you don't understand what we are telling you it's mostly because you haven't supplied enough information. You whine about a missing return, but do not indicate that you have ever sent the replacement in. You whine about owing lots of money, but don't bother mentioning what tax year it's about. You imply it's the same year as the missing return, but apparently it's from an earlier year. So keep on whining. Let this drag out. Don't respond to the IRS mail and give up ever get this resolved. Good riddance.
4. Sure, you can try to sue the IRS, but is that really worth of your time, money and overall mental stress? Cost of litigation such as this is tremendious. I don't think you can go too far. Sorry! If the IRS did not pay your refund in a timely manner due to the lost return, you have a ground & it is a different issue. Think about it. The decision is yours!
5. So they lost your paper return. This happens with paper returns. Next time efile your return if possible. Send them another copy of your return. If money is owed to you, you will receive interest on that money from April 15. If you owe them money, you have to pay interest. It's really that simple. The payment you sent has been processed, you have not been harmed by the loss of the return. The lost return doesn't mean you don't owe them whatever taxes you owe, or that you can be compensated because you have to send in another copy of your return.
6. No you can't sue because you have not been damaged. The check and return may have been in the same envelope but the check should have been attached to a payment voucher and went in a different direction than the return. The check will be posted as a payment with the return and establish the filing date. You have proof of when the original return was filed and paid. Just send a signed copy of the return along with a letter and copy of your certified mail receipt and the return should be processed routinely.
7. Uh, no, you can't sue them. But are you saying they are demanding that you pay again for what you already sent in with your return and had deducted from your checking account? Something here isn't adding up - that wouldn't be hard to prove, if it was processed, your bank account would show the payment. If they are saying that you owe them MORE money, then maybe you do. Did you show the self-employment tax on your 1099 income? I assume you mean 1099, since the company wouldn't have sent them your W-9, just taken the info from it for your 1099 and to report to the IRS. If you didn't, or didn't include the 1099 in your return, then you probably do owe them money. Having a receipt, which says the enveloped was delivered to them, doesn't mean your return was correct. Instead of focussing on who you can sue, why don't you focus on getting the problem resolved by giving them what they are asking for? Are you saying that the 1099 was in error? Maybe it was, but that would be a different issue. They get millions of returns, and the fact that they haven't turned up your paperwork yet isn't what should be happening, but that sounds like it's far from the whole problem. If you paid the extra to send them your return via certified mail, not a bad idea by the way, didn't you at least keep a copy? Then why in the world don't you just send them a copy of your copy? Or are you really expecting them, or anyone here, to believe that you went to all the trouble of sending the return by certified mail and didn't even keep a copy for yourself?
8. A receipt for certified mail does not stand up in any court of law because it is only proof that you mailed an envelope, there is NO WAY to prove what was inside the envelope you mailed. This holds for taxes, and anything else you decide to send certified. Sorry. I agree with the answer that states you have not been harmed by loss of return because you at least have a payment on file. (Only true of personal returns hopefully, definitely not true for business tax returns, particularly payroll).
9. I'm afraid you are making this more complicated than it is. As mentioned above all you need to do is send them a copy of your return. It will probably take 6 to 8 weeks to process that return. If a delayed refund is the result of an IRS error, they will pay interest. If the problem is still not resolved 8 weeks after you send in the copy, use Form 911 to report the difficulty to the Taxpayer's Advocate Office.