So as I peruse my mail yesterday, I see this envelope from the IRS. Oh oh, I think. Procrastinating, I found a few things to do before I got up the nerve to open it. Audit? Big error? Fearfully, I pulled out the letter.

"Why We Are Sending You This Notice" was the heading. "We are writing to you because there is an error on your 2007 FIT Return. My heart sank. Evidently, I should have used Schedule D Tax Worksheet to compute my tax. The letter went on--blah, blah, blah. I'm still thinking how much this is going to cost me.

The bottom line is, they refigured and corrected it themselves. I say to myself, "I'm screwed". But when I turned the letter over, I did a double take on the new amount of overpayment. It was nearly $300 more than I had figured! Yes, I'm $300 richer! I was stunned. The IRS didn't have to do this. They could have ignored my mistake. I'm tempted to frame the letter. Nice folks at the good ol' IRS!!