Ridiculous that it took all this to get the IRS to fix their own mistake.
Country singer John Rich shared a heartwarming update after vowing to help a Tennessee farmer who had been threatened by the IRS over a mistake the agency made.
The whole thing started back in May 2022 when 76-year-old Wilson Perry Kirby received an unexpected $20,000 payment from the IRS. The retired Montgomery County Highway Department worker from Coopertown, Tennessee knew that it was a mistake and attempted to return the money to the government – but unfortunately, he would learn the hard way that the IRS is impossible to deal with, even when you’re trying to give them money.
Kirby enlisted an accountant to help him return the money, but instead the IRS began charging him interest on the $20,000 while also keeping his tax refund to pay for the interest that they claim he owes.
Despite reaching out to US Senator Marsha Blackburn’s office for assistance, and being told that the matter was settled, Kirby continued to receive letters from the IRS threatening to seize his property if he didn’t pay $4,300 in interest, in addition to the $1,800 they’ve already seized from his tax refund.
The frustrated farmer says he met with the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service in Nashville, but unsurprisingly they weren’t able to resolve the issue. And after speaking with (and receiving letters from) IRS employees all over the country trying to get things straightened out, Kirby says he has a simple request:
“I wish they would get it straightened out. And get one person to work on it, instead of sending these letters from all over the United States.”
Well the entire saga caught the attention of John Rich, who was recently appointed by President Trump to serve as Special Envoy for American Landowners, a position to advocate for farmers, ranchers and private landowners against government overreach and outside interests that threaten private property rights.
After being made aware of the case, Rich immediately asked for assistance getting in contact with Kirby:
“Yea, this AIN’T happening…I’m all over this one. If any of my TN friends can connect me with this man, please put me in contact with him immediately. I’m overseas, but will drop a damn HAMMER on this situation as soon I can talk with him. Hit me in the comments if you know him.”
Now, as Rich pointed out, dealing with the IRS can be incredibly frustrating, even when it’s THEIR mistake that caused the problem. But this week, he shared an update revealing that the situation had been resolved – and the IRS had even refunded the $1,800 they had withheld from Kirby’s tax return:
“They had really made a big mistake with him: put a lien on his land, sent him money he never asked for—he didn’t spend it—and finally sent it back. Then they wanted to charge him interest on money they had sent him in error. It was a horrible mess, but we finally got it fixed.”
It was his first time meeting Kirby in person, and the farmer admitted that he was in a dark place trying to get the situation resolved:
“I’ve cried. I’ve suffered. I prayed. I called my preacher. I even thought about killing myself at one time. But thank God… I didn’t think it was ever going to get settled, ’cause you can’t get ahold of nobody with the IRS. It’s pitiful. You can only talk to a dang answering machine. Who wants to talk to an answering machine?
The world’s gone crazy. You can’t talk to a person in person. At least if you buy a car, you know where you bought the car, you know where to make your payment, you know what your payment’s going to be. You buy a TV, you go talk to every Tom, Dick, and Harry all over the United States, and you have to mail your TV bill in. The world’s gone berserk. They’ve gone tax-crazy.”
He also expressed his appreciation for Rich, and was shocked that the country singer made the trip to visit him in person:
“I appreciate it. You know what? You said you’d come see me, and I never thought you’d come see me. I said, ‘Hell no, I’ll never see him.’ I said that to myself, but you did come see me. I called and told you to come see me, and you told me on TV… I said, ‘I’ll never see John Rich.'”
And the two even bonded over country music – though Kirby admitted that he didn’t know Rich’s music and was more of a fan of the old stuff:
“I play it all the time on Alexa over there. I get her playing it all the time. ‘I’m so lonesome I could cry…’ I get her playing it right now if I wanted to.”
What a legend. It’s infuriating that it took a member of the president’s administration to step in and fix the situation, and just goes to show you how out of control our government is when that’s what it takes to get something done, but luckily the story has a happy ending and Kirby doesn’t have to worry about losing his family farm.
It’s just ridiculous that he ever had to worry about that to begin with.
