Adam Ronning was declared dead by the government when he was 4 years old, KMSP reported. As an adult, he has always paid his taxes, but either only got half of his return or none at all since 2009.
Thanks to U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the IRS reversed the declaration and now recognizes that Ronning is very much alive.
"This was an absurd situation," the senator said in a statement. "This constituent was declared dead by the government when he wasn't. It doesn't get much worse than that."
According to CBS News, a "60 Minutes" investigation in 2015 found that approximately 9,000 living Americans are erroneously declared dead each year.
“It's insulting, it's shocking, it's frustrating,” Ronning told KMSP. "I'd call and they were like, ‘Let's just give him the hold monster.’”
Ronning, a father of two with a third on the way, said he was relieved that the situation finally was rectified.
“I think that's probably better than winning the lottery... to be living and be normal is much better than being on this list of dead people,” Ronning said.
Ronning said the money he is owed will definitely be put to good use.
"That money will definitely have somewhere to go, you got to support the family, and there's going to be more diapers, making sure our cars keep working; just keep on keeping on," Ronning told KMSP.
A spokeswoman for Klobuchar said this was a rare case, CBS News reported.
"I'm glad we could help him, and we will continue to work to make sure he gets the tax refunds he deserves," Klobuchar said in the statement.
The govt declared Adam dead for 29 years. (He's alive.) That's absurd so we helped him fix it. https://t.co/a4B7Q4SDcJ
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) May 11, 2017
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