1040-LOST: 30,000 Tax Payments Floating in Pacific Ocean

An IRS employee sent in this internal memo reporting the loss of 30,000 Form-1040ES payments in San Francisco Bay:

On Sunday, September 11, 2005 an accident occurred involving a courier transporting mostly 1040ES payments to an IRS Lockbox. Following are details regarding the accident:

• Where – San Mateo Bridge, San Francisco, CA
• Approximately 30,000 pieces of mail went into the San Francisco Bay
• Effected States – Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming

Update:  Jim Maule (Villanova) has more on the story here.