IRS mistakenly declares Long Island widower dead for 2nd year in a row

A widower on Long Island says for the second year in a row, the Internal Revenue Service has him marked down as dead.

The confusion began in August 2022 after Smithtown resident Gene Indenbaum's wife died. The two had been married for nearly 50 years. 

That's when he says Social Security mistakenly recorded that both of them were deceased.

IRS mistake brings back pain of wife's death, widower says

Indenbaum found out last year while he was filing his taxes. He says agency officials told him, "The problem is, we have you as deceased, also."

"And I went, uh-oh," Indenbaum said.

He says the mistake caused a ripple effect; Social Security checks wouldn't clear, and Medicare and his credit cards stopped working.

After months of misery, the IRS finally corrected the error, and Indenbaum received a letter stating, "We recently discovered that our records wrongly showed you as deceased."

Just a few weeks ago, however, he got a phone call from his accountant saying it had happened again.

Indenbaum said his accountant told him, "You're not going to believe this. We got the same error message as we did last year. They have you listed as deceased."

On top of the frustrating issues with Social Security and Medicare returning, Indenbaum says it brings back a lot of pain.

"[It] brings up everything that took place when my wife passed away," he said.

Indenbaum says he owes no money on his taxes; he is actually entitled to a refund, but he is going to have to file an extension because he says there is no way this will get resolved in time for the deadline.

CBS News New York reached out to the IRS for a comment, but they said since it deals with a specific taxpayer, it's against the law for them to issue a statement.

Thousands wrongfully deemed dead each year, data shows

The most recent report from 2019 shows the advisory board of the Social Security Administration found each year, 7,000-12,000 people are wrongfully deemed dead.

"It happens though error," said Karla Dennis, CEO of the tax strategy firm KDA Inc.

She says if this happens to you, you need to act quickly and responsibly, and notify the IRS and Social Security offices.

"Ask for a death entry correction," Dennis said.