Relying on IRS Call-In Tax Service Could Be an Invitation to Trouble
Need an answer to a tax question? The Internal Revenue Service has about 2,400 people staffing its phone-in taxpayer information service.</br></br>Want to be confident that the answer you get is correct? Then you might want to look somewhere else.</br></br>This reporter called 17 IRS offices around the country to sample their answers to four questions taxpayers might ask between now and April 15. The questions ranged from a general inquiry about a new tax credit for diesel-car owners to a more demanding one about the tax treatment of a stock-market maneuver.</br></br>The results: No question commanded correct answers from all five IRS offices to which it was directed. On two questions, four out of five responses were accurate. On the other two, totally or partially wrong answers outnumbered the correct ones by about the same ratio.</br></br>Accountants say that such errors aren't unusual, particularly when somewhat complex questions are involved. "My personal opinion is that you can't really rely on the call-in service," says Sidney Kess, director of tax policy and planning at the accounting firm of Main Hurdman. "Many times they are shooting from the hip. They aren't necessarily checking the points."