P. M. BRIEFING : 30% of Answers Wrong, IRS Admits
<i> From Times wire service</i> s
WASHINGTON —
The Internal Revenue Service said today its own tests show IRS employees are giving taxpayers wrong answers to tax questions 30.8% of the time this filing season.
The result is slightly worse than last year, when IRS answers would have produced errors on taxpayer returns about 28% of the time. The General Accounting Office used a different test and found wrong answers to 36% of the questions last year.
The agency promised to waive any penalty imposed on a taxpayer because of a wrong answer by an IRS employee--but only if the taxpayer can provide the employee’s name and date of the error.
