A man says he was declared dead by social security and tax officials - which left him unable to drive, vote or claim tax returns for four years.<br /><br />Jeff Athey, now 28, was stated as passed away by the US Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2017.<br /><br />Jeff, a writer, actor and producer from New York City, had to fight for several years to get "legally resurrected". <br /><br />From 2017 to 2021, Jeff was unable to renew his driving licence, which meant he couldn't.<br /><br />His voter registration was removed, leaving him unable to cast his vote in the 2018 midterm elections.<br /><br />And whilst able to pay taxes, he couldn't claim tax returns.<br /><br />Jeff first realised he had been declared dead when his tax return was denied in March 2019. <br /><br />He immediately went to a local SSA office and was met with an employee who had no idea how to carry out his request. <br /><br />Jeff said: "They weren't upset because they had to do it. I think it bothered them because they had no idea how."<br /><br />The SSA asked him for documentation to prove he was alive - which he provided - and corrected their records in April of the same year. <br /><br />Unfortunately, this did not correct the records of any other organisations including the voter registration office or the IRS.<br /><br />Jeff said: "They send a notification to everyone else when you die but they don't when you're resurrected. <br /><br />"When I tried contacting the IRS it was impossible. I would get lost in a phone maze and then they wouldn't talk to me because I appeared dead. <br /><br />"I was paying taxes the whole time but I couldn't get any money back."<br /><br />Jeff was forced to contact the voter registration office to register again which allowed him to vote in the 2020 presidential elections. <br /><br />Jeff remained dead in the eyes of the IRS until 2021, when he reached out to a congresswoman Yvette Clark. <br /><br />Yvette Clark's office intervened and Jeff was finally "resurrected".<br /><br />He was then able to claim his tax return, which amounted £2,480 ($3,000) over four years. <br /><br />The ordeal has had a deep effect on Jeff, who lost faith in the organisations running his country.<br /><br />Jeff said: "I was just a 20-something, I didn't have an answer to what was happening and every answer that people proposed seemed too expensive and too scary.<br /><br />"It makes me more anxious and frustrated to deal with any government agency. <br /><br />"The issue for everything was that no-one in the system was talking to anyone else, it was always up to me to find out and inform everyone."
