DC’S LOW ON GAS
Prices less than AAA average
Dear John: Regarding your commentary on gas prices: It must be a NY state and/or city thing, because here in Virginia, in the greater Washington, DC, metro area, we are paying $2.15 a gallon for regular gas.
The further you go south on the I-95 corridor, the cheaper it gets. South Carolina is the best, where you can get gas priced at less than $2 per gallon.
Prices did spike in the area of $2.70 after the storms, but have pretty quickly and efficiently come back down. I really think it’s just another NYC thing you all get with the package of irritants that comes with living in “The City.” C.K.
Dear C.K.: Nope, it’s not just a “City” thing. The prices I’ve been quoting are from AAA and are national averages.
I may just visit you folks down there and bring a big gas can.
Dear John: We need your help with something.
When my wife did her taxes in 2014 for the fiscal year of 2013, she made a contribution into her IRA account. And she did the same in the year 2015 for the fiscal year 2014, and the same every year after.
Mywife would go to the bank — Citi — and fill out the contribution form and the bank would fill the amount and mark the year the contribution was to be made for.
This year she did her taxes for the fiscal year 2016 and when she went to the bank to make the IRA contribution, she was told that she can’t because the money is already there!
This happened because in 2015, Citi did not deposit any money into to the IRA for the fiscal year 2014, and made the deposit toward the present year instead of for the prior year.
When my wife went to the bank to have this fixed, she was told that it can’t do anything and to have the accountant fix it. The accountant said it is the bank’s responsibility.
Do you know if this will be a problem with the IRS? And is this the bank’s responsibility?
Your help will be very much appreciated. K.S.
Dear K.S.: Citi says that “customer satisfaction is (its) top priority,” but I don’t think you are going to be satisfied with this answer.
“We have investigated this matter thoroughly. In this instance, a current-year contribution was made in 2015 and a confirmation letter was mailed to the client.
“While contribution requests may be changed if done so promptly and within IRS deadlines, we are unable to change the contribution request at this late date,” Citi said.
You would have had until the 2014 personal income tax filing deadline (without extensions) to change the 2015 current-year contribution to a prior-year contribution.
You are probably going to want to fix this now by filing amended returns, or it’ll come back to take a chunk out of your backside at a later date.
In this case, I guess the customer isn’t always right.
Dear John: I enjoy your column. My problem is that the Wall Street Journal will only accept checks or a charge card to pay for a subscription.
My post office money order will be refused.
Is this a case of discrimination? And will a state attorney general handle this complaint. Thanks, BF
Dear BF: Before you start calling attorneys general, give me a few days to see if the pope would like to get involved.
I think this is definitely a case of discrimination against the post office. Pope and post office start with the same two letters, so I think that’s the way to go.