Those of us fleeced by Bernard Madoff are looking to get some of our money back from the government, which taxed us on money we never earned. In my case, I not only lost $5 million in the Ponzi scheme, but I paid almost $75,000 to the state of New Jersey and $275,000 to Uncle Sam in taxes over the past three years on income reported by me, which, as we all know now, never existed.

We Madoff investors, creditors, survivors—please call us anything other than victims—realize we will get back pennies on the dollar from Madoff if we’re lucky, but getting back the money we paid the government and which we’re entitled to apparently won’t be easy.

Madoff robbed me of $5 million and New Jersey now wants to rob me of $75,000.

Take New Jersey, for instance. On Feb. 20, the New Jersey Division of Taxation came forth with a “Ponzi Schemes and Amended Returns” notice on its website acknowledging that “many people with investments managed by Madoff are likely to have paid taxes on income that was never actually generated by them (phantom income).”

Rather than urge taxpayers to amend their tax returns to get a refund, the division does the exact opposite. “The Division of Taxation is not accepting amended returns with regard to the Bernard Madoff or other alleged Ponzi schemes,” the notice states. It goes on to advise taxpayers to claim a loss of investment that can be taken against capital gains in the year of the loss. Since almost nobody has a capital gain in 2008, the net effect of this notice is simple—Madoff robbed me of $5 million and New Jersey now wants to rob me of $75,000. The state might be reconsidering. On March 2, the notice was gone, replaced with: “The page you have requested cannot be displayed because it does not exist, has been moved, or”—and this is the part I like best—“the server has been instructed not to let you view it.” Things got even more interesting on March 3, when the reference to the notice disappeared entirely. The Madoff investors living in New Jersey have no clear instructions from the state, but come hell or high water, we will submit our amended returns. We are not asking for a bailout, just for our money back.

The federal government hasn’t given such mixed messages—it has given no guidance whatsoever. Although thousands of investors across the country are eagerly awaiting some pre-April 15 instruction, the IRS remains eerily silent. If transparency and communication are the linchpins of the new administration, the folks over at the IRS haven’t gotten the message.

This is a story seemingly without end. With this quick conviction…I’m sure the IRS would just like to forget about the whole thing.