It's the notice that Imlay City resident, Kay Kloss never expected to see -- bills from the IRS indicating over $1,200 dollars in unpaid taxes.
Assuming it was a terrible mistake, Kloss began frantically texting Miriam Tiedje, the accountant she tells us she paid to file on her behalf.
Kloss was told that it was a simple error on the part of the IRS, but it was not. And Kloss would later discover she was not the only one with complaints against this tax preparer.
A quick internet search would show a list of bad reviews from people across the state of Michigan.
In addition to Tiedje not filing taxes on behalf of her clients, it turns out she's also been misrepresenting herself -- signing documents as a certified public accountant.
But the state's licensing registry says, that certification lapsed back in 2011.
Tiedje sent WXYZ a statement, saying "I apologize to anyone who hasn't received their tax refunds or paperwork. Please have them contact me to resolve any issues."
But contacting Tiedje has been a huge part of the nightmare, with victims telling us at this point, they just want to see her stopped.
As a result of our cameras Tiedje did return money to at least one of her clients, but others are still waiting to be paid.
So how is that Tiedje is still in operation?
The IRS says it has filters in place that try to identify these types of schemes, but unfortunately, with the number of tax returns that are filed, sometimes, some of these schemes go undetected.
And that's why the IRS says it's important to get to know your tax preparer. Check to see what kind of licensing they have on the IRS' website, and of course, report any potential fraud immediately.
You can make those complaints to the IRS' Detroit field office, IRS-CI.Michigan@ci.irs.gov.
