Frenchwoman Gets 13-Euro Tax Bill 60 Years After Death

Posted on by Forest in Debt, General, Opinion, Saving Money & Finances

Frenchwoman Gets 13-Euro Tax Bill 60 Years After Death

A 13-euro tax bill isn’t exactly something to get your knickers in too much of a twist over but when the bill comes for a relative who has passed away 60 years ago you can understand why there may be some shock and a moment of “What The ….”.

Martine Courtois never knew her grandfather but a letter came to her in the small eastern town of Bruyeres in France concerning some  land inheritance tax owed and it was addressed to the late man Pierre Barotte.

As far as she was concerned everything was closed up legally and all knots tied in and around 1949 when he passed away. Clearly the tax office didn’t feel that way but they took their sweet time informing anyone about it!

Martine has informed the tax office that her grandfather passed away sometime ago now and the case is supposedly pending investigation.

Frenchwoman Gets 13-Euro Tax Bill 60 Years After Death…

I could understand if a computer had triggered off an automatic notice, printed and sent the letter (not sure if technology does all those stages quite yet) but it means the debt must have been entered into electronic systems sometime in the last 20 years or so, in that case it was entered manually and the debt really should have been discarded at that stage! Still even at this stage someone must have seen and reviewed the letter even if skim reading it and seen that the tax debt was 60 years old and clearly not valid anymore.

Martine didn’t know her grandfather so I am sure it isn’t too stressful but reminding people of dead relatives is not exactly sensitive but something tax offices all over the world seem to have no problem doing.

Admittedly this case is extreme but seriously it should have never happened!

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What do you think? Is a debt a debt no longer how long it’s been? Should she just pay the 13-euro bill and forget about it? - Frenchwoman Gets 13-Euro Tax Bill 60 Years After Death

Details source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8777073/Frenchwoman-gets-13-euro-tax-bill-60-years-after-death.html

Tags: inheritance tax, tax, taxes