Wow, broken.

Posted by: Mike at March 30, 2006 12:40 AM

God hates you.

Posted by: gmangw at March 30, 2006 12:41 AM

Let me guess the follow-up to this: there is no phone contact listed. Your tax dollars hard at work :).

Posted by: James at March 30, 2006 01:17 AM

It's a paradoxical circle of logic...

Posted by: Fuzzy at March 30, 2006 08:18 AM

Wow, I'm waiting for somebody to manage to explain how this is possibly not broken? I mean I could understand if it came up with a screen asking you to put in your ID and then emailing it to the address on record.. but to have to login to get a pin that you forgot(thus preventing login) Is Very Broken...

Posted by: infinity306 at March 30, 2006 08:31 AM

Okay, I'll take up infinity306's challenge.

Not broken.

You're supposed to have written your PIN down on a yellow sticky note and pasted it to your computer monitor, of course, you big silly.

Posted by: Steve at March 30, 2006 09:29 AM

Maybe it was designed by the blonde that had to call AAA to retrieve keys locked in the car with the window down!

Posted by: brunette at March 30, 2006 10:28 AM

This is definitely Broken, however I suspect that for some reason the web site didn't recognise your username and decided that you were an un-registered user or you never set up the "forgot password question". Therefore it was trying to tell you that you must first have a password before it can be recovered, and that you must set up the recover password before you can use it.

If this is true than it is broken in two ways (assuming you did correctly type in your username and password):

because it lost your registration information (or at least is unable to access it at the moment)

and because the error message is unclear as to it's meaning. It should be phrased: "The Forgot PIN feature is available only to registered users. This feature has not been activated for this username."

Posted by: Sean P at March 30, 2006 10:59 AM

I'm buying Sean P a pizza.

Posted by: Eddie at March 30, 2006 11:39 AM

thanks. i appreciate the offer.

Posted by: Different Sean P at March 30, 2006 03:48 PM

And that's why I don't live in Connecticut.

Posted by: joe at March 30, 2006 04:27 PM

Okay, here's my guess.

The site says it's only available to registered users. That implies that for that Tax Registration Number, there is no account on the system. Therefore, the instructions below the input boxes apply about using your ZIP Code as a PIN.

That's my guess, anyway. Doesn't excuse the fact that they could have chosen a much better way to phrase it.

Posted by: Ciaran at March 30, 2006 05:22 PM

Um. Please forget my comment above. I didn't RTFE. My fault.

Posted by: Ciaran at March 30, 2006 05:24 PM

What web browser is that in the picture?

Posted by: Bunda at March 30, 2006 08:29 PM

To Bunda:

It kinda looks like FireFox but in Win2000?

Broken

Posted by: Kip HT at March 30, 2006 09:22 PM

since when does revenue people welcome a tax return with no tax due? (see bottom left corner)

Posted by: i hate the irs at March 31, 2006 01:20 AM

If you read it said to enter your zip code and then It would prompt you to make or create a new pin number.

READ people Jezzzs

Posted by: Montana boy at March 31, 2006 09:15 AM

Montana boy

Didn't he say he's been using this pin/username for several years? The "enter zip code" feature seems to be for first-time users, not those with already-established accounts.

Posted by: SillyGirl at March 31, 2006 09:51 AM

Your Tax Dollars at work...

Posted by: Sallie Sue at March 31, 2006 10:47 AM

AARRGGHH!! Don't ya just HATE when that happens? That's one of the very few situations in which I'd just MIGHT want to whack my computer.

(CONFIDENTIAL TO "MONTANA BOY": It seems you don't practice what you preach.)

Posted by: Linda A. at March 31, 2006 01:33 PM

Reminds me of when I was an AOL customer and they emailed me my password so I could sign in to get my mail. Broken and stupid!

Posted by: Miki at March 31, 2006 02:15 PM

mmm... Photoshop.

Posted by: James at March 31, 2006 05:10 PM

The message at the top doesn't exactly match up with the words "forgot PIN". I'm guessing that it's an automated response to features that only registered users can use, and this was programmed in after the website was initially set up. "Forgot PIN" is filling a placeholder.

Posted by: BlastYoBoots at March 31, 2006 10:08 PM

James, I don't think it's Photoshop. I went to the site, clicked forgot password, and got the same message.

To the original poster, you might want to blur out your tax identification number, especially since you've posted that you forgot your pin. Wouldn't want someone taking your tax ID and trying to get in for you.

Posted by: Michael McWatters at April 3, 2006 12:24 PM

Drats! Foiled by Michael McWatters again. But I'll be back.......................I will be back.

Posted by: JAC at April 3, 2006 12:38 PM

This is what you get when the IRS makes up the rules. If you can't get into this website, you don't belong.

Posted by: Major major at April 3, 2006 03:59 PM

It says below that your PIN for recovery is your ZIP Code.

Just thought you might be interested.

Posted by: Ferret at April 5, 2006 05:15 PM

Would love to know your area code...

Posted by: wildone at April 19, 2006 08:24 PM

Re: using my Tax ID number -- first, it's public info. Second, do you really think our tax ID number is just four digits long?

Re: what browser - Foxfire, skinned. On XP Pro.

Re: Photoshop: all I did was obscure the other 6 digits in our tax ID.

Re: Zip code -- that only works the FIRST time you use the system. I clearly stated I've been using the system for YEARS.

Re: area code - 203 -- why?

Followup: I did finally get my password (it was the one I tried to enter), but not until the next day. And because the filing was a day late, they fined us.

Posted by: Lee Fleming at May 12, 2006 12:48 AM