Backstory

At the end of last year, the man who has been doing my taxes for the past 3 or 4 years announced his retirement. I trusted the company he worked for to use an equally qualified person to do my taxes this year—especially since they got complicated—and turned them over to them in March or so. Unfortunately the new guy was not as skilled and made a careless error on my filing. This led to me owing almost $3,000 in state taxes.

After figuring out the mistake, I went back and forth with this new guy but ended up paying the state due to the deadline—I don't know if state revenue offices are as bad as the IRS, but I wasn't taking any chances. I was less than happy with how the company handled the situation, but at the end of the day the filed an ammendment and I was told I would just have to wait for the state to process it to be refunded my money. The company told me it would take about 6 weeks. That was in late April 2024; as of November 21, 2024, I had not received my refund.

The next morning (November 22, 2024), I called the state revenus office for the third time in this process to inquire about when I should expect to receive my refund. The last time I called—3 weeks ago—I had been told I would get the refund in about 7 days, but I still haven't gotten the money. The lady on the phone explained to me that the refund would come in the mail as apposed to direct deposit the way it's usually done. Naturally, I rushed to the mailbox to collect all the mail I hadn't collected this week. There in the stack of mail was the check.

Testimony

Patience and temper were major struggles in this ordeal. I was upset about the principle of it all. One of my major gripes was that for a large number of people a loss of $3,000 would severely effect their life. To top that off, both parties were indifferent about the issue.

Frustration

The company that did my taxes charged me $500 for the service but did little to rectify the problem they created. Outside of filing the amended return, they did nothing. I had to follow up with the state myself for the refund. It turned out the state actually had 6 months not weeks to refund me the money. When the 6 months were up and I still didn't have the money, I called. The first time I called, I called during my lunch break at work and despite providing my name, address, phone number, social security number, and birth date, they refused to talk to me becuase I couldn't provide my license number (I didn't have it handy). The hours of operation for the state are 7:30am - 4:00pm. Since I have to be to work at 8am and live about 30min from the office, these hours of operation do not lend to a working person's schedule.

That made me angry.

I got to work super early the next day and called back from the parking lot. I was transferred 3 times before a 4th transfer failed becasue that department doesn't come in until 8. So I was late to work, and it turns out they hadn't even looked at my amendment, which only took 2 seconds to approve. This made me angrier because it was something that could have been done so simply but clearly just wasn't being done. I was told it would take about 7 days to process, but after 2 weeks, I still didn't have the money. I called back once more and was informed that the money was sent by check and that you have to give it 60 days before you can initiate any kind of missing check procedure. I was pretty bummed because I didn't trust USPS to actually deliver the check (I've had enough bad experiences with the post office to last a lifetime). The whole situation was mired in frustration, anger, and dread.

When I finally received the check, they had tacked on interest to the tune of $110. This was a pleasant surprise as one of the complaints I'd had was that if I'd been that late paying them, they would charge me interest. Seeing that they did try to make it right with the interest brought on a wave of appreciation and shame.

Making it Right

Don't get me wrong, I still think all parties involved could have been more organized and handled everything better (myself included), but at the end of the day, mistakes do happen. We have a Savior who died for our sins and a Father who turns the other cheek because of that sacrifice. We are given chance after chance to make it right.

The company that did my taxes felt like "making it right" was filing the amendment for free; I disagreed and see that as part of the service I paid for considering it was them who messed it up. This leads me to two specific Bible verses: Leviticus 6:1-7 and Matthew 7:12

Payback + Interest

1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “When a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the Lord, and disavows the rightful claim of his neighbor regarding a deposit or a security entrusted to him, or regarding robbery, or he has extorted from his neighbor, 3 or has found what was lost and lied about it and sworn falsely, so that he sins regarding any of the things that people do; 4 then it shall be, when he sins and becomes guilty, that he shall restore what he took by robbery or acquired by extortion, or the deposit which was entrusted to him, or the lost property which he found, 5 or anything about which he swore falsely; he shall make restitution for it in full and add to it a fifth more. He shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering. 6 Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to the Lord, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your assessment, as a guilt offering, 7 and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.”
Leviticus 6:1-7 NASB

There are quite a few passages in the Bible about theives paying back double what they have stolen, but I believe my case goes under the princple outlined in Leviticus 6:1-7. In these verses we're talking about property (or money in this case) that has been wrongfully handled. The victim is to be restored his property plus one fifth. The Church rarely touches on this concept but it's really important. Not only is this a statement of accountability but of overcompensating as part of restitution.

When I was a child, it was common to borrow CDs, and it was also common to accidentally scratch CDs. According to Leviticus 6, not only should I have replaced a CD I borrowed and scratched with a new CD, but I should have given the person a little more. The message sent would have been "Thank you so much for lending me your CD, I'm sorry I didn't take great care of it. I appreciate you trusting me and I want to make my failing right." It's a powerful concept. Most believers don't follow it. Some people don't even return things, while others will return the broken things. Some will replace what they've broken, but very few will go above and beyond.

The company who did my taxes actually made it all the way up to that third category. They messed up, they filed an amendment. Considering the fact that the church never talks about this verse or concept, I'm sure they felt like they had done the best thing. From their perspective they did the most anyone would do and were confused why I was still upset.

Realizing how many people haven't been taught this has helped me step back and try to see the situation from their perspective. I still think they fell short, but I understand why.

Do Unto Others?

In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12 NASB

I have a rocky history with the the concept found in Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31.[1] It's not that I disagree, I just think we have to be careful how far we take this concept. From a general standpoint, everyone desires similar things: to be loved, respected, heard, etc. However, from a little details standpoint, we often want these things in different ways. For instance, someone might desire a huge public proposal from their significant other (like the ones that happen at sporting events), but some would prefer something more intimate. The episode in which I speak of love languages is a great example of this.

In fact, I often talk about this concept in respect to love and how we love one another, but today I want to talk about expectations when righting wrongs. We each have different expectations when it comes to how someone should make something right. For some a simple apology might be sufficient, others me require an act to restore trust, while others might have something completely different in mind. In this scenario, my idea of how the company should have made it right was very different from theirs. It's important for me to realize this not just for when I am trying to make amends when I mess up, but for meeting people halfway when they're trying to make ammends as well. (Note, some people may try to take advantage of you, so I'm not suggesting the victim should always get their way nor that when we are the victim we should settle for subpar apologies. This is just a reminder that communication, discernment, and grace are necessary in these situations.

References & Footnotes

1. I mentioned that this concept is repeated in Luke; the exact verse is Luke 6:31