I am at a loss on this one, hoping someone has run into it and resolved it. The client has assets with RBC bank, more of an investment account than a true 'bank'.
The client wrote a check to the IRS to settle an amended return balance and mailed it with the return. The IRS cashed the check, but now 8 months later sends a letter that the client owes the same amount.
Speaking to RBC and the IRS multiple times, RBC indicates that the IRS processed the check as an ACH, and therefore has no record of the canceled check front/back. IRS has no record of the payment on the client's account. There is an ACH confirmation I obtained from RBC, but none of those numbers was helpful to the two IRS agents I spoke to, and at least one of the agents was genuinely trying.
Best I can tell, the IRS keyed in the checking account/routing numbers and likely posted it to an incorrect SS#. But since I don't have the check, I cannot prove it. The IRS tried tracing the payment with the amended return that they acknowledge receiving, but that did not work.
Has anyone had a similar situation, and how did you resolve it?