California idea: Buy a tax IOU from a friend, send it in as tax payment

A co-worker had a great idea: If you know someone who received an IOU from the state, buy it from them for face value, and send it in as part of your tax payment!

Can it be done? Any lawyers out there? I think if an IOU is legal tender from the state, it's legal tender back to them!

It would be something the state would not want to challenge because it would cause such bad publicity.

Plus what could they do about it, arrest you.
No jury in the state would ever convict you.

reply to post by Dbriefed


haha i sware thats sooo awesome LOL!!!!!!

hell yeah if the state has "issued" the IOU as "legal tender" then sure why not pass them it back..

its still money aint it?

If we are receiving an I.O.U. then why don't they just allow us to work w/our employer not to deduct the state tax portion from our paychecks. equal to the amount of the refund owed to you? Face it even if your check takes out only $4.37 in state tax that's $4.37 more for you!

Originally posted by Dbriefed
Can it be done? Any lawyers out there? I think if an IOU is legal tender from the state, it's legal tender back to them!

I'd have to check with my management, but I believe a returned State "IOU", properly endorsed, would be accepted as payment bearing the date of issue; just as actual, uncashed State refund checks are accepted as payment until they become "stale" (more than one year from the date of issue).


Remember though, if the delayed warrant is not fully funded by the State within the statute-determined time-frame, interest will accrue on the refund.

Returning the "IOU" may also result in the State recivng any accrued interest as well. This is a topic no one, to my knowledge, has yet discussed within the agency I work for.

does that mean the reciptent of the IOU gains intrest??? from the state??



please can you clarify this???

reply to post by theresult


It's been awhile since I handled personal income tax issues, but I believe the State is required to pay interest on any state tax refund not issued within 45 days of authorization (authorization generally means that the tax return which generated the refund has been processed and the refund amount verified).

whoaaa so? what you are saying is that with every IOU issued to the citizen they will infact "gain" intrest???

omg lordy so there for if it was to put my IOU into bank account i could "theoreticly" double my "intrest"???

talk about a ponzi scheme haha man i love money!!!

help me out if im wrong in this..

Just wanted to edit for "state" kinda question

If that is the case "the person gets intrest on the IOU"

would that not make the state pay out MORE than needed??? ie buget wise??

i mean if the state can afford xxx dollors then has to issue an IOU that is xxxx + intrest would that not cost the state MORE money???

im totaly lost?

[edit on 8-2-2009 by theresult]

reply to post by theresult


Let's see if I can explain this:


If the State of California recieves your tax return, processes it, determines that you overpaid your taxes and are thus due a refund, it has 45 days to authorize the State Controllers Office to issue a refund of the amount that you overpaid.


The State Controller's Office then prints a check and sends it to you (by third class mail, which allows the US postal Service up to 25 working days to deliver it to you). Third Class mail is slow enough to give new meaning to the term "Snail Mail", but saves the State huge amounts in postage.


Direct deposit refunds, because they are eletronically transmitted, can hit you bank account much faster, but the same maximum time limit basically still applies.


If a refund is not authorized within 45 days of the determination that an overpayment exists, the State is required to pay interest on the refund amount.


Why do you think that the delay period emplaced by the State Controller's Office is 30 days, not 45, or 60 or 90? The State does not want to pay you any more interest than it absolutely has to, but it does want to hold on to your money for as long as it possibly can to help it with the current fiscal crisis it faces.



However, if a refund cannot be authorized, say because the return cannot be processed or verified for some reason (it's incomplete,there are too many errors, etc.), then the 45 day time-frame does not apply.


Now here's the kicker:


The State has up to One Year to process a tax return!

That means that, if it wanted to, the State could, legally, delay the start of the "45 day count-down" for up to one full year!


Why would the State do that?

Well, if the budget crisis is worse than we've been lead to believe, or if it becomes worse, the State might just find it convenient to process only those tax returns which show a balance due or no refund. Thus, the State would be able to maximize its revenues while delaying some of its expenses.


I doubt that such an extreme action would ever actually come to pass; it would require, at least, an emergency directive from the Board of Equalization (which oversees the State's tax board), if not the Governor himself.



Of course, I never thought I'd see the day that we'd see refunds being delayed as a result of the State not having enough money, either.




[edit on 9-2-2009 by Bhadhidar]

Originally posted by Dbriefed
A co-worker had a great idea: If you know someone who received an IOU from the state, buy it from them for face value, and send it in as part of your tax payment!

Can it be done? Any lawyers out there? I think if an IOU is legal tender from the state, it's legal tender back to them!

Doooooood, I am not worthy.

That is beautiful.

Ironic justice served with their own piece of paper.

This idea needs to get to as many Californians as possible.

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
If we are receiving an I.O.U. then why don't they just allow us to work w/our employer not to deduct the state tax portion from our paychecks. equal to the amount of the refund owed to you? Face it even if your check takes out only $4.37 in state tax that's $4.37 more for you!

Yeah you could change your number of dependents on your tax
forms so that you end up owing the state instead, and just target
the amount they owe you.

But for those who want sweet justice right now, pass your IOU's to
rich ppl to send in instead of their cash.

Maybe even some kind rich ppl will buy the IOU's from the poor who
are homeless or near homeless, and then send the IOU's in for
their tax debts in its place.

I bet Charlie Sheen and his dad would consider it, or know ppl
that would do it.

Film it and put it on youtube, it would make all the major news sites.

It would really Rock the Casbah.

Someone needs to take this idea and run with it.

This is quite justifiable for those who are poor and just scraping by.

Again, I am not worthy, this is an AWESOME idea.

Feed their own bitter pill back to them.

Originally posted by Dbriefed
A co-worker had a great idea: If you know someone who received an IOU from the state, buy it from them for face value, and send it in as part of your tax payment!

Can it be done? Any lawyers out there? I think if an IOU is legal tender from the state, it's legal tender back to them!

while its a good idea. you have to remember that an I.O.U. is not legal tender its a piece of paper that says you are owed the money and the state promises to pay you by X date.

The only way you would see a penny of interest if the state failed to pay by that date is if you took the state to court and won. But then it would be pointless because you spent more in legal fees than you would get with the refund and the little interest the state would have been ordered to pay.

edit to add: and if you took that I.O.U to the bank to deposit or cash the teller would just laugh at you

[edit on 2/9/2009 by Mercenary2007]

Although it probably makes absolute sense, and is probably perfectly legal.
The Government makes things up as they go and how they decide.
So they would probably just say, NO.
And there isn't alot you could do about it.

If they haven't thought of it, they haven't put restrictions on it.

It's beautiful if it works!