A 76-year-old man from Tennessee reportedly received a $20,000 tax refund from the IRS by mistake and attempted to return the funds.
Wilson Perry Kirby, a Coopertown farmer and retired Montgomery County Highway Department worker, said the IRS charged him interest on the money he tried to return.
Kirby also said the agency kept his entire 2025 tax refund and threatened to take action against his property.
“I’ve tried the president, governor, mayor. They don’t mind asking you to vote for them, but when you need help you can’t get ahold of nobody,” Kirby said.
“Despite trying to fix the problem, the IRS is still sending letters, demanding he pay interest on the money they accidentally sent him that he tried to return. He never spent it,” Collin Rugg wrote.
“The IRS is now threatening to seize his farm if he doesn’t pay the up to $4300 (and growing) interest,” he added.
Watch below:
The IRS is threatening to seize a Tennessee man's farm after charging him interest on a $20,000 refund it accidentally sent him, which he immediately tried to return.
Wilson Perry Kirby, 76, says he was accidentally sent $20,000 by the IRS in 2022.
Kirby immediately tried… pic.twitter.com/1UntrdFKa4
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 23, 2026
News Channel 5 Nashville noted:
The IRS has agreed to contact Kirby directly after I pressed the agency for a response on his behalf.
Additionally, I have connected Kirby with a Nashville tax attorney who handles disputes with the IRS. The attorney has offered to speak with him about what legal options may still be available.
“I kept the money in the bank the whole four years, they put it in there,” Kirby said in an interview on Newsmax.
“I never seen it, I never signed it, they could’ve took it out any time,” he added.
Watch below:
A Tennessee farmer targeted by the IRS over the agency's own mistake speaks out on the confusing situation.
"I kept the money in the bank the whole four years, they put it in there," Wilson Perry Kirby tells Carl Higbie. "I never seen it, I never signed it, they could've took… pic.twitter.com/fZA9YwGDnF
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) July 24, 2026
Cleveland.com has more:
In July, Kirby said he received another IRS notice demanding payment of thousands of dollars in interest related to the disputed refund. The notice warned of possible collection actions if the balance was not addressed, according to Kirby.
Kirby later met with the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service in Nashville, an independent organization within the IRS designed to assist taxpayers dealing with unresolved problems involving the agency. He said the meeting did not immediately provide a solution.
The farmer said his main request is simple: He wants one person assigned to his case who can help bring the dispute to an end.
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