Firms Accuse IRS of Stealing Tax Software

U.S. software companies accused the Internal Revenue Service of ripping off the tax software it sells to corporate clients. The Software Publishers Assn., which represents software giants Microsoft Corp., Adobe Systems Inc., Netscape Communications Corp. and others, said the IRS is taking the computer programs that one corporation uses to file its taxes and using it to improve the way it checks other corporate returns. They said that the IRS wants to use the data behind the programs, known as source code. Officials at the IRS say they haven’t stolen anything. They said they need access to software to understand the complicated paths companies, particularly multinational corporations, take to pay their federal taxes.