Government

Ohio Waitress Receives $435K Tax Refund by Mistake…and Returns It to the IRS

Ohio Waitress Ginny Hopkins Returns Mistaken Refund for $435,000 to IRS

(Photo: Mark Duncan / AP)

(The Blaze/AP) — If only it was a tip.

Veteran Cleveland waitress Ginny Hopkins grabbed her mail on her way to work and found a federal tax refund check for nearly $435,000.  She said “laughed out loud,” then took the check with her to Johnny’s Downtown Restaurant to show around.

She enjoyed the speculation for a couple days about what she could do with the apparent windfall, saying: “Grandma hasn’t had a vacation in 28 years…I would have gone to Hawaii,” but knows she could never actually cash the check.

“They’ll put me in Alactraz, waiting on the night shift at Alcatraz,” she said. “They’ll reopen the place.”

On Thursday, she went to the Internal Revenue Service office in Cleveland with the check.

“I’m here to give you a half million dollars,” Hopkins recalled telling employees.  She said, ironically, that she had to show them a photo ID.

“Like anybody would walk in and just give them a big check,” she remarked.

Hopkins said the IRS employees politely told her that the mistake would be investigated internally, and a message was left Saturday at the IRS office.

A waitress for 40 years, Hopkins wouldn’t reveal how much she earned last year, but laughed and replied: “Not enough to warrant a refund like that.”

Hopkins said she originally filed her return in January with her son’s help, but an electronic filing glitch caused information on her return to get deleted. She filed an amended return in April, claiming a $754 refund.

Interestingly, she still hasn’t gotten that, but Hopkins said the IRS representatives told her how to check on the status of her refund.

She said next year, she’ll file her return requesting a direct deposit.

Hopkins, who spoke by telephone Saturday before heading to her job for her sixth day of work in the week, said she wasn’t sure what she would do if another $434,712 suddenly showed up in her bank account next year.

“I’d have to start balancing my checkbook a lot better, I can tell you that,” she said.

 

Comments (44)

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  • sallyredneck
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 5:39pm

    Is there a time limit on cashing a government check? She will be lucky to get this corrected at all this year, I would cash it but not spend it.

    Report Post »  
    • holy ghostbuster
      Posted on June 4, 2012 at 7:19am

      If she had cashed it she could be charged with conversion of public money. 18 USC § 641, She did the right thing because the IRS would have gotten it back from her or out of her one way or another.

      Report Post » holy ghostbuster  
  • LeeR47
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 4:03pm

    Zorro–this is news/interesting because the people who made this half a million dollar error are going to be in charge of your health care pretty soon. I’m sure it will be just as efficient and friendly as the IRS.

    Report Post »  
  • Maxim Crux
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 3:17pm

    The IRS probably thought she was dead and some union dirt bag was suppose to get the money

    Report Post »  
  • barry1817
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 2:32pm

    I read somewhere that when she went to return this she had to show ID.

    Now aint that a hoot.

    Must be that racist IRS once more demanding ID from the poor and aged.

    Report Post »  
  • corbecket
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 11:45am

    Actually, this lady could have cashed the check with no legal penalties. Being “over refunded” is a common event.

    Some 35 years ago, a taxpayer received a refund of about $500,000. She freaked and consulted her lawyer. The lawyer, who also happened to have his CPA, told her to deposit the refund into a discrete, interest bearing account (16% at the time), which she promptly did. Her lawyer then contacted the IRS, notifying them that his client had been over refunded and that the money was being kept safely in a bank account to protect it, pending the IRS’s instruction in the matter.

    Of course, the IRS expeditiously got back to them in eight months. They asked her to return the money, which she did promptly. The IRS was happy that they had their money back. The lady was happy because she got to legally keep the interest from account she had kept the money in.

    Everyone was happy, and they lady was richer by some $53,000. The IRS never asked for the interest as she broke no laws by keeping the proceeds from the interest account..

    Report Post » corbecket  
  • hi
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 11:06am

    You can see that social security is diddly squat if she is still needing to work. We should just keep our money instead of having the government invest it in a ponzi scheme. Phase ss out. Socialism is oppression.

    Report Post » hi  
  • teacherskj
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 10:11am

    She should be in congress.

    Report Post »  
  • Mr Sanders
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:55am

    There are good, honest people out there – very refreshing!

    Good for you Ginny!

    Report Post » Mr Sanders  
    • jungle J
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:51am

      her words were “they will put me into alcatraz”…grow up.

      Report Post »  
    • TickleMyPickle
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 11:19am

      @Jungle J
      Good job telling a lovely honest hard working grandmother that hasn’t had a vacation in 28 years to “grow up” is really big of you. You should be so proud of yourself. Try learning the definition of sarcasm and maybe you should look in the mirror, learn to respect your elders, and grow up a little yourself. Maybe your parents didn’t teach you respect as a child, but i‘m sure they’re really proud of you. Just another hate mongering troll. Go back to the woods you came from kplsthnx.

      Report Post »  
    • Look4DBigPicture
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 2:20pm

      @jungle J….Her Alcatraz comment was intended to be humorous. There was a time when Americans used to be allowed to make tongue in cheek comments. Sometime during the 90′s, the radicals started bullying Americans into submitting to their nonsensical semantics.

      Report Post »  
  • LameLiberals
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 7:53am

    This woman would be thrown in prison for cheating the IRS.

    Yet Tim Gaunter and Rangle and others cheated on the IRS – got caught – and either did NOT have to pay anything or got out of paying thousands in fines.

    And $400,000 is paltry compared to the billions stolen by Jon Corzine at MF Global who essentially robbed a bank AND GOT AWAY WITH IT leaving the people he robbed broke. Corzine is a money bundler for Obama so Eric Holder will NEVER go after him.

    So much for BLIND JUSTICE. The blind is off Lady Justice and now if you are black or an Obama supporter or “green’ like wind mill companies you can lie, steal and kill endangered eagles (wind mills) and NOTHING will happen but let a republican fart and kill one eagle – and WHAM. How corrupt is America? Ask and answered.

    Report Post »  
    • Zorro6821
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:18am

      Why is this news. She was smart enough to know that keeping that money is a Federal Crime, big time. The IRS would have eventually discovered the error and she would have been behind bars if she kept it. You’d have to be a Moron not to return it. She wasn’t a good Samaritan, she was just smart enough to avoid serious jail time. Give us some real new Blaze!

      Report Post »  
    • crybabyreds
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:05am

      whine whine whine.

      Report Post »  
    • hidden_lion
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 2:18pm

      zorro-
      As old as she is she could have gone on a permanent vacation with the money. As long as she stayed out of the US, they would have no way of knowing which country she was in. She could live quite nice on that in a lot of countries. Ecuador is beautiful this time a year….But, she did do the right thing.

      Report Post » hidden_lion  
  • LameLiberals
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 7:46am

    Better she have it than it be wasted flying Pelosi as House Speaker (when she was) or the sec of defense back and forth to their homes in other states via military jet courtesy of taxpayers. Both are millionaires and can pay for their own transpiration. No one FORCED them into their jobs – if they don’t like living in Washington – quit. Either way – the taxpayer should not be stuck paying for their trips home every week or few weeks.

    Report Post »  
  • idarusskie
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 4:52am

    Most likely they would have discovered the error. unless some one is using her SS number that makes a lot of money.

    Report Post »  
  • burnteye86
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 2:01am

    Smart lady. They would have come after her not only for the money, but for penalties and interest.

    Report Post » burnteye86  
  • MCDAVE
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 12:53am

    That was her Obama bucks check,she just didn’t realize it..Cash it and retire in the carribean

    Report Post »  
  • FreedomWitness
    Posted on June 3, 2012 at 12:29am

    I just got a refund for a JILLION dollars. I gave it back. With Obama in the White House a JILLION doesn’t go as far as it used to.

    Report Post » FreedomWitness  
  • Apetit
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 11:52pm

    glenn should really control who and when his pic is taken. his magic undies did not help him at all here.

    Report Post »  
    • FreedomWitness
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 12:24am

      APETIT, great grammar. ‘who and when his pic is taken.’ Illiterate moron.

      Report Post » FreedomWitness  
  • rickc34
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 11:45pm

    She could teach those in the white house about being honest. A liberal would have tried to cash it.

    Report Post »  
    • Stoic one
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 12:14am

      Someone speaking with honesty, integrity, and truthfulness at the white house would sound like extraterrestrials from Sirus B, to the current occupants there.

      Report Post » Stoic one  
    • crybabyreds
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:06am

      All liberals? Are you the king of sweeping generalizations too?

      Report Post »  
  • dontbotherme
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 11:41pm

    What an honest sweetheart she is!

    Report Post »  
    • MAMMY_NUNN
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:03am

      Should get a reward just for exposing Government fraud waste and abuse.

      Report Post »  
  • wordweaver
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:14pm

    The only smart thing to do is what she did. This is not like finding a bag of cash in the bushes. The IRS does some pretty lame things, but this would have been discovered in short order. Don’t you think?

    Report Post » wordweaver  
    • Doctor Nordo
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:35pm

      Exactly. She would have cashed it, spent it, and then got a call from the IRS demanding their money back then she’d be up shi- creek without a paddle.

      Report Post » Doctor Nordo  
    • hidden_lion
      Posted on June 3, 2012 at 2:21pm

      that is what the court is for. The long, slow grind of justice. She would die of old age before they could convict her of anything.

      Report Post » hidden_lion  
  • LeadNotFollow
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:10pm

    …
    Electronic filing is where she made her big mistake.
    The Government wants everyone to file electronically, even though it is full of flaws and hackers.
    I’ll stick to paper filing.

    Report Post »  
  • jhaydeng
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 9:57pm

    Wait until she gets the audit for embarrassing the IRS!

    Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 9:17pm

    Glad she has the morales and ethics to return it.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • Pouncing Porcupine
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 10:30pm

      More like the common sense. Anyone who would try to keep that money would end up in prison.

      Report Post » Pouncing Porcupine  
  • dealer@678
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 9:16pm

    If you are ever at her table, leave something extra

    Report Post »  
  • TJexcite
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 9:16pm

    Every year we hear of stories of someone who suddenly has major money from the IRS in their account and then buys an island. Then complain when they are arrested for fraud. At least not here.

    The sad part of it someone might have actually got a check that size but just wrong name but the right size.

    Report Post » TJexcite  
  • Teabunny
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 8:59pm

    Unrelated…but way cool! gotta see this folks!
    Julian Assange vs Rupert Murdoch – RAP NEWS 13: A News Hope
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xm0HNbvtgQ

    Report Post » Teabunny  
  • Darla_K
    Posted on June 2, 2012 at 8:48pm

    And we are paying these people working for the IRS. lol

    Report Post » Darla_K  
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