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YOUR TAXES : TAX REFORM : Right Number, Wrong Answer

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<i> From Associated Press</i>

IRS personnel gave the correct answer on only 64% of telephoned tax queries, and government auditors said a major reason was a failure to press questioners for details.

A survey by the General Accounting Office, involving 1,733 test calls during the last return-filing season, also found that the IRS was even less likely to give the right answer in matters affected by recent changes in tax law.

“IRS assistors’ failure to probe for all of the pertinent facts before answering GAO’s questions was a primary reason for the 36% inaccuracy rate,” the congressional watchdog agency said in a report to Congress. “Of 20 test questions, 17 required assistors to probe to correctly understand and answer the question.”

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When answers to only those 17 questions are considered, the IRS was wrong 39% of the time. Questions requiring no further details produced correct responses 78% of the time, the GAO reported.

The GAO emphasized that the inaccuracy rate applies only to the specific questions that were asked--and not necessarily to all the questions taxpayers are likely to ask. However, the IRS’ own check of actual taxpayer calls last spring indicated that its telephone personnel provided the correct answer just 72.4% of the time.

IRS Commissioner Lawrence B. Gibbs, in responding to the latest GAO report, said the IRS was well into a program to improve the skills of the telephone “assistors” before the current filing season.

“We . . . have expanded assistor training on probing skills,” Gibbs said. “In addition, we continue to emphasize to all managers the need for quality review and providing immediate feedback to assistors who fail to probe completely.”

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