After a four-year battle with the IRS, Wilson Perry Kirby, a Middle Tennessee farmer, finally got an acknowledgement that the government had indeed made a mistake.
asserted
government → get → mistake
In 2022, Kirby received a $20,000 tax refund he knew wasn't meant for him.
asserted
he → receive → him
Instead of cashing it, he immediately tried to return the money.
asserted
he → cash → money
But instead, the IRS responded by charging him $4,000 in interest and withholding his own $1,800 refund, according to a report by WTVF.
uncertain
IRS → respond → WTVF
When the incident got media coverage, country music star John Rich saw the report and tried to untangle what four years of official channels couldn't fix.
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years → get → channels
This month, Kirby finally received his refund, along with two apology letters from the agencies involved.
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Kirby → receive → agencies
The government’s mistake came at his expense
Pic credit: WTVF
All of Kirby’s trouble started in 2022, when the IRS sent him a $20,000 tax refund.
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IRS → come → refund
Wilson Perry Kirby, a retired Montgomery County Highway Department worker and farmer from Coopertown, Tennessee, knew the money didn’t belong to him.
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money → know → him
So he contacted his accountant and filed the paperwork.
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he → contact → paperwork
They waited for the agency to acknowledge the error and process the return.
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agency → wait → return
That's where everything stalled.
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everything → stall → ?
Instead of acknowledging the mistake and accepting the money back, the IRS charged him $4,000 in interest for holding on to it.
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IRS → acknowledge → it
Kirby was speechless: he hadn’t spent a penny, and in fact, all he did was try to return it.
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he → spend → it
But the agency treated him like a debtor.
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agency → treat → debtor
To make it worse, the IRS withheld his own $1,800 tax refund to put towards the interest he supposedly owed.
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he → make → interest
He reached out to anyone who might help, including government officials, his state senator's office, county representatives, the mayor, the governor and even the president's office.
uncertain
who → reach → officials
But none of his appeals were answered.
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none → answer → appeals
A farmer trying to do the right thing got bureaucratic silence in return.
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farmer → try → return
This process dragged on for years and the stress mounted.
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stress → drag → years
He saw no resolution.
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He → see → resolution
It was absurd: a debt he didn’t owe was growing, while the IRS held back his $1,800 refund.
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IRS → owe → refund
The financial pressure and emotional toll broke him.
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pressure → break → him
Making things worse, Kirby lost his wife, Norma Jean, in August 2024.
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Kirby → make → August
She was the one managing every aspect of his life, including the paperwork related to this trouble.
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She → manage → trouble
Suddenly, he was all alone, both in life and in dealing with a problem he had been trying to resolve for years.
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he → deal → years
He didn’t know how to navigate this federal nightmare alone.
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He → know → nightmare
He was just an elderly farmer lost in grief, running the farm and fighting a battle against an agency that wouldn't acknowledge its own mistake.
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that → lose → mistake
And for that, he was about to lose his own farm.
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he → lose → farm
An IRS notice reportedly warned Kirby that if he did not pay the interest it said he owed, he risked having his property seized.
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property → warn → interest
His battle made it to the news
With no options left, Kirby turned to the media, hoping they could help him fight his battle.
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him → make → battle
This spring, a reporter from WTVF brought the Tennessee farmer’s ordeal to light, detailing his four-year struggle with the IRS and the financial and emotional toll it had taken on him.
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it → bring → him
The coverage caught the attention of John Rich, the country music artist appointed as Special Envoy for American Landowners.
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coverage → catch → Landowners
Rich, who was in Italy, saw the coverage and decided to step in, leveraging his position to untangle what four years of official channels couldn't.
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years → see → channels
“Well, Mr. Kirby is a landowner, and his land is under threat, and he didn’t do anything wrong, and he is at his wits’ end with this thing, and I want to see what I can do,” Rich told the broadcaster.
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Rich → do → broadcaster
In a video shared on X in July this year, Rich assured viewers that Mr Kirby’s land wouldn’t be at risk and that the whole issue would soon be resolved.
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issue → share → risk
“Nobody is taking Mr Kirby’s farm.
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Nobody → take → farm
This is about to get HANDLED,” the singer said.
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singer → handle → ?
Following this, in September, he met Kirby and assured him that the issue would be dealt with.
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issue → follow → him
Resolving the problem that was never his to begin with
What Kirby has been waiting years to see has finally arrived.
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waiting → resolve → What
Earlier this month, he finally received his $1,800 refund that the IRS had withheld.
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IRS → receive → that
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
