<!>Grrr Thread (2015-03-18 13:41:03)
Grrr Thread
Anthologica Universe Atlas / Forums / Miscellaneria / Grrr Thread / <!>Grrr Thread (2015-03-18 13:41:03)

? bloodbath, Ph.D. Physicist and Numismatist
posts: 73
, Hydrogen, Ohio, USA
message
quoting Travis B., Transition Metal, Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
quoting bloodbath, Lepton, Ohio, USA:
So, while I normally like getting letters from people across the pond, I don't like getting letters saying that I didn't pay a tax bill that I know damn well I paid about 14 months ago (and can prove I paid) and that I owe more money to the French authorities. Especially when I get the letter a month after they mailed it. Hopefully me e-mailing them and saying that I already paid the bill along with the information to prove I paid it is enough and I don't have to deal with them any more.

Just so you know (this is kind of belated, just read this thread now), at least here in the US there is a scam where people call people claiming to be the IRS (the American federal tax authorities) claiming that they have not paid their taxes, and threatening them with prosecution unless they pay up immediately (usually in the form of something like gift cards, which should be an obvious red flag that it is a scam beyond the fact that the real IRS does not contact people by phone).

(Oh, I did not see that you were in the US until after I posted this.)

I'm fully aware of the scam. Thing is that this was a letter I received from the local authorities in Clermont-Ferrand, on official letterhead and everything: no phone calls or anything.

The nice thing is that, after I contacted the tax attaché of the French Embassy to the US, they offered to contact the Clermont-Ferrand tax authorities on my behalf. So, right now, the embassy contacted the SIP in Clermont-Ferrand to try to locate the payment. Unfortunately, it's been about a week or so since they contacted them, but, as this is France, this is not surprising.

——
Update of sorts for those interested: I found out what the issue was: they billed me for an additional year of taxe d'habitation and contribution à l'audiovisuel publique despite having paid the tax for 2012 and having left France in May of that year. (I know I told them that I had left France, especially since I wrote it on my final income tax declaration. But whatever.) My payment for 2012 did, in fact, go through without issue. So it wasn't a letter about the bill that I had already paid, but about a bill I never received and should not have to pay.

In any event, the French Embassy has been exceptionally helpful in helping me find out what the problem was. I know, it's a bit surprising for it being French bureaucracy, but still doesn't make it any less helpful or welcome.