My wife recently transferred funds from a mutual fund to her bank account to buy a new car (BMW 330 xi). When she checked her bank account to see if the transfer had occurred, she noticed that only 55% of what she requested had been transferred. She contacted T. Rowe Price, and they informed her that, because of the Patriot Act, all their customers are required to fill out a W9 tax form so that the government, with this piece of paper, can verify that she is not a terrorist. The form apparently got lost in the mail, so until she fills it out her account is frozen and, for the transfer she did make, 45% went to the IRS as an involuntary downpayment on 2004 taxes.
Presumably, if a terrorist transferred say, $1 million, that would be fine as long as the IRS got its $450,000 take.
1:13 pm on February 25, 2004
