
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 31, 1995                   TAG: 9504110013
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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RADIO ADS airing on local stations warn consumers to be wary of unscrupulous practices by some preparers of federal income-tax returns. A few, for instance, that promise next-day refunds when tax refunds are due may actually be loan sharks.

The best way to avoid getting bit, coax the ads, is to do it yourself. And if you have trouble understanding the arcane IRSspeak in the instructions booklets provided by the government, just call or visit the friendly Internal Revenue Service office nearest your neighborhood. There, IRS agents stand ready to answer your questions and help you out.

Yeah, right. Except the Government Accounting Office reports that when taxpayers do ask questions of the IRS, the agency provides wrong answers about a third of the time.

Almost as regularly, says the GAO, it also incorrectly figures how much a taxpayer owes.

Perhaps we shouldn't blame IRS agents. After all, they're like us - only human (aren't they?) - and may have trouble themselves keeping up with Congress' frequent revisions of the tax code.

As columnist Dave Barry writes, the laws ``are constantly changing as our elected representatives seek new ways to ensure that whatever tax advice we receive is incorrect.''

Meanwhile, some federal lawmakers are proposing a rewrite of the ``Taxpayers Bill of Rights,'' enacted in 1988, to give taxpayers a fairer shot at winning tax-dispute battles with the IRS.

Fine, but let's hope the legislation is written in plain English. We'd hate to have to rely on the IRS to explain it.

by CNB