LAKEWOOD, CO — A Colorado woman owes $43 million in taxes, according to an online statement she received from the IRS.
She thought it must be a joke, but so far, the bill hasn’t gone away.
Joyce Buckland logged into the computer to make a tax payment and thought her eyes were playing tricks.
“I had a little bit of back taxes, small amount, I went in to do this payment and my statement said that I owed over $43 million.”
The IRS statement read $43,547,212.73 to be exact. The service fee alone is just shy of $1 million.
“That’s insane. I have never seen that much money in all my life. All my friends together and I couldn’t possibly come up with something like that.”
The adjunct history professor says she laughed and refreshed her screen, but the multi-million dollar bill hadn’t budged.
“I know there had to be some kind of crazy something going on. Who owes that kind of taxes? I bet Donald Trump doesn’t pay that much money.”
Buckland called the IRS, only to be told it was likely a computer glitch that should rectify itself once she made her standard payment.
She’s still waiting and says her next step is to go to the IRS in person and say, “Hey, somebody needs to do something about it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would owe $43 million to anybody, ever.”
