Flat farking broke

[figmo]

Someone sucked all the money out of my savings and checking accounts today. My E*Trade account is about to get seized by the state for back taxes they think I owe (my accountant is still working on the returns for the last three years due to discrepancies on E*Trade's part during my "day trading" days). I suspect it's the looney guy from the CA Franchise Tax Board.

I don't know what to do. How the hell am I supposed to pay bills when I can't write checks or put the funds in for the folks who are supposed to auto-suck them? Do I need a tax lawyer? Do I need a bankruptcy lawyer?

I'm terrified.

Comments

[patoadam]

I will give you all the advice I can think of, at the risk of telling you stuff that you already know or that might be wrong.

If it's not already too late, get your money out of the accounts that are being sucked dry, even if you have to sell securities to do it.

What on earth is your accountant doing still working on your 2000, 2001, and 2002 taxes? Maybe you need a competent accountant, or maybe you can do it yourself with TurboTax. If you took two extensions like you were supposed to, you have until October 15 to file for 2002.

E*Trade sent you three types of statements:
1) trade confirmations
2) monthly statements
3) year-end statements, including 1099 forms

All of these are available online, and you got paper copies of at least some of these as well. Are all three (or six) types of statements incorrect? If one of them is right, you could use it to do your taxes (and attach a written explanation of why it disagrees with the 1099 forms that the IRS gets). If all of these agree, why do you think E*Trade lost some of your records?

If you bought and sold the same security repeatedly, perhaps you were in a "wash sale" situation and didn't realize it, which could explain why the E*Trade records seem wrong?

YMMV. I do not have professional expertise in this area, so this advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

Sounds like you need professional advice, which you may not be able to afford. I know you have at least one lawyer friend. Good luck.