Fax problems hit Oregon Department of Revenue
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The state Department of Revenue is having problems with its fax machines and taxpayers who recently used the service must resend their information.
The agency says it got nearly 650 fax submissions that were incomplete due to service problems. The taxpayers successfully transmitted their faxes, but the Revenue Department received distorted and partial images.
Taxpayers who sent a fax to the Electronic Funds Transfer Unit using 503-947-2016 between Friday afternoon and Monday evening must resend their fax using that number or the alternate number 503-345-2353.
Anyone who sent a fax to the Suspense Unit between Friday afternoon and Tuesday morning must resend the fax to 503-945-8584.
The Suspense Unit outage generally affects taxpayers who are providing additional documentation to the agency regarding their tax returns.
Why wasn't this agency the first affected by the sequester?
What the hell is a "fax"?
If you owed taxes you.re off thehook
At least using a fax machine is a lot more secure than sending info over the internet. Â I refuse to do any banking or other transactions over the internet until they are actually secure. Â That may be a long way into the future. Â I am sure the banks, credit card companies, etc. Â will one day not cover losses that occurred because someone hacked into someone's bank account or credit card account. Â As far as I'm concerned using on line banking and other similar services is at your own risk. Â You should cover any losses. Â The more computers play a part in our lives, the more screwed up this world becomes and the less freedom we have. Bring back the good old days when people used their brains to get things done instead of depending on a computer to do their thinking.
@Shadow Should we also go back to morse code and telegrams? How about horse and buggy? Abacus?
@Shadow The use of computers is how we lose freedom?  Gotcha, and a big thanks for enlightening us.
Haha, this post is hilarious.
And I thought I was behind the times. You must be REALLY, REALLY old.
@ShadowWAKE UP ITS 2013 not 1969!!!
@Scott Oviatt @Shadow Yeah, but, have you ever tried to hack a punch card?
My biggest observation before ejecting from my career in the internet industry is that computers and networks in the workplace were designed to save everybody time and money. Instead, it ends up costing so much more time, money and inconvenience that it's better just to do some things the old fashion way.  Like, for example, ...uh...  ...um...
...well, I'm sure I'll think of something...
I didn't realize OR DOR had fact problems? Oh, fax, not facts. Nevah mind!
ODORÂ S u c k s......That's all I have to say about them.
@Billy Batts Hey -- I filed my taxes electronically Thursday night around 10pm and my refund was in my account Tuesday morning -- 2 working days.  I say they're great.
People still use faxes?
ODR will not accept information via e-mail. It's fax or snail mail.
@wondering You can file electronically.
@I812  Wasn't talking about filing a return. ODR has had fax issues for a long time - is nothing new. Anyhow, I finally got rid of my land line and went with an on-line fax company. I just scan a document to my computer and attach to an e-mail and fax from there.
You can also leave messages written in blood on the mirror in their bathroom.
@Oregon7812 I have no idea what that means, but, I like it anyway.
Make sure it's not YOUR blood, though. They check that kinda thing now.
@axpman Many banks still require a fax number to receive info from them, due to security issues - a fax gets sent to a specific physical location, whereas email isn't considered secure because it could go anywhere. I imagine there are plenty of folks out there who feel the same way about their tax info, paranoid about viruses and whatnot. They probably don't trust the mail either, or don't want to wait a couple of extra days for their refund. Here's a fun fact: the fax machine was invented in the 1840's...they used to send them over telegraph lines. It cracks me up that many modern banks still rely on 170 year-old technology to conduct business.
@WTFWTF Fax machines can be a reliable means of sending information. We still use them at work for a lot of items. Not all companies have online RFQ capabilities, so Fax or Phone calls help. But a lot of companies are able to build their website to get away from a fax. However some sites still crash, or lock up, so the Fax machine is still a great backup.