How to return IRS statements? Not mine...

October 11, 2015 1:59 AM

A few years ago, a friend was staying with me for an extended period of time. Although he has residency over here in the UK, he is still a US citizen and 'temporarily' used my address for bank statements etc. How do I get the IRS to stop sending his letters to my house?

He moved out almost 3 years ago now and we're not really in touch any more. I've texted him about this over this period and he says he will sort it but it's still happening.

I don't want to open them or just throw them out, but 'Return to sender, address unknown' doesn't seem to be working in this case. I genuinely don't know his new address either so can't forward them on. Is there a department at IRS that deals with this?

Thanks in advance for any ideas

posted by joboe to Work & Money (6 answers total)

Put it in an envelope with a note saying "moved to UK, address unknown, but can be reached at (phone number where you have been texting him)." After that, if you get any more, just dump them back in the mailbox as you've been doing.

I'll bet if you tell your friend you passed on his contact info, he will be motivated to sort out his issues PDQ.
posted by rpfields at 2:25 AM on October 11, 2015 [3 favorites]

rpfields, the OP is in the UK and so is his friend.
posted by peacheater at 5:44 AM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

I don't want to open them or just throw them out

I don't think throwing them out would be so terrible -- I would assume the IRS can reproduce whatever documents are inside, should the friend ever get his act together and deal with his taxes. Have you asked your local UK post office for help? Maybe they can mark anything with the friend's name as 'return to sender' before it gets delivered to you.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:31 AM on October 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: There isn't an IRS department for this per se (there are barely departments for actual tax/audit issues due to budget cuts) but there are some numbers you can try:

-I'd try the FBAR hotline first (this is for the report of foreign bank acct info), they will probably be more interested than the general hotline: [phone] or [phone]
-the general number for international callers is: 267-941-1000

There is an international IRS office at the Paris Embassy, you can contact them at: [33] (1) 4312-2555

You could also put it all in an envelope, with a note that the person has not lived at the address in 3 years and you have no forwarding address information, and mail it to:

Internal Revenue Service
International Accounts
Philadelphia, PA 19255-0725
posted by melissasaurus at 11:14 AM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I had a similar situation with a friend from Germany. Used my (US) address to get his last statement after he'd moved back home. Got mail for him for years after that, despite having returned it with his current (German) address. Finally called and got someone sympathetic on the phone who apparently made an update. But it was years. If the update hadn't been made I would have continued to send it back, marked "Return to sender, no such addressee".
posted by vignettist at 12:39 PM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. Phoning is definitely the best option for me, I think. I'm not going to package it up and send back though as that would cost me a small fortune!
posted by joboe at 5:34 AM on October 12, 2015