Threatening Tax Info Email from Adsense

[keyplyr]

Received one of those [Action Required] emails from [e-mail] today.

Update your mailing address to receive year-end tax forms

Dear Publisher,
In early 2017 we sent a form 1099-MISC for the 2016 tax year to the address listed in your AdSense account. Unfortunately that form was returned to us by the U.S. postal service stating an invalid address.
What should you do now?
To receive your tax form for 2017 and comply with IRS requirements, review the information that you provided to AdSense and update your mailing address and tax information on your profile. Failure to update your address information could result in delays in receiving your tax form.

This is (and has always been) pure BS. I receive the tax info every year, my address is correct. It seems Google just sends this out as a catch-all notice in case someone actually doesn't have the correct address listed to receive their yearly tax info. It is Google's responsibility with the taxman to make sure they send the info out... but they make it sound threatening to us.

[lucy24]

If everyone who ever received one of these “pure BS” emails made a habit of contacting Google and fussing and screaming and demanding individual attention to their (nonexistent) problem, possibly G would end up deciding it’s more cost-effective to only send the email to people whose paperwork really had been returned by the Postal Service.

:: idly imagining what would happen if the IRS sent out a mass mailing to all known 2015 taxpayers, saying their 1040 for 2016 had not been received ::

Besides, does anyone actually require a physical 1099? What are you supposed to do with it?

[keyplyr]

If everyone... made a habit of contacting Google...

Hence the "noreply" address.

[LifeinAsia]

Besides, does anyone actually require a physical 1099?

Yes- the IRS mandates that companies send a physical copy to the person who received the money (i.e., Google must send a physical 1099 to individual publishers who were paid over $600.). In about 60 years, there *may* be some sort of electronic clearinghouse where people can opt to receive e-mail notifications instead of paper. (That would be about the time that no one uses e-mail any more...)

[keyplyr]

What really annoys me is this statement:

Unfortunately that form was returned to us by the U.S. postal service stating an invalid address.

This is untrue. The U.S. postal service did not return it. I received and used it to file my taxes... total BS from Google!

Why do they need to lie? Why can't they just send a reminder to check and make sure your tax info is correct?

[lucy24]

They probably think people won't take action unless they've been frightened into it.

:: insert reference to Boy Who Cried Wolf ::

the IRS mandates that companies send a physical copy to the person who received the money

But afaik you don't have to turn around and send that physical copy in with your 1040 if you're otherwise filing electronically. And the person who paid you isn’t required to send it by certified mail, so how does anyone prove anything?

I once amused myself by calculating* just how much warehouse space the IRS needs to add every year to accommodate that year's tax forms, assuming standard 20lb paper in filing cabinets of reasonable height with ordinary aisle space. I don't remember the total, but it did make it plain why they're so eager to have people e-file instead. (Electronic data will deteriorate after a while, but probably not within the 7 years that anyone is likely to need it.)


* I never got the hang of counting sheep.

[keyplyr]

I never got the hang of counting sheep

I'm convinced there are actually only 3 sheep. Once they jump over that fence, they just keep going around again.

[jmccormac]

It is a pity that the Seinfeld series never had an episode about Google. (Think it finished before Google.) There's a great scene in one of the episodes where Kramer goes to the post office to cancel his mail. Imagine letting Kramer lose on Google. :)

Regards...jmcc

[keyplyr]

Imagine letting Kramer lose on Google. :)

Sometimes I think Kramer is in charge at Google :)

[EditorialGuy]

It seems Google just sends this out as a catch-all notice in case someone actually doesn't have the correct address listed to receive their yearly tax info.

I've never received such a notice, and I've been an AdSense publisher since 2003. Are you sure there isn't a typo or other glitch in the address that Google is using?

Of course, it's also possible that the post office screwed up. (Case in point: Our regular postal carrier is great, but whenever he's replaced by a substitute, we get other people's mail, and other people get our mail. Maybe the USPS needs to administer a dyslexia test for prospective postal carriers.)

[keyplyr]

@EditorialGuy - read again. I got the form. I get it every year. Same business address for 22 years.

[lucy24]

<tangent>

Maybe the USPS needs to administer a dyslexia test for prospective postal carriers.

They do. A lot of the postal exam (I took it once) is about getting similar numbers in the right order. But, much like the driving test, it only has to be passed once.
</tangent>

[azlinda]

I have NEVER received a physical copy from Google since I started with them many years ago!