The Inspector General for the IRS recently released a report on help that the IRS provides to taxpayers. In particular, the IG sent in undercover auditors to check out the info that IRS staff was providing. Unfortunately most of us already knew what the results were going to be without reading the report.
Unknown to most people, the IRS will actually help you file your "simple" tax return, in theory for free. In the recent audit, the IG tried two different methods of free filing: using humans at the IRS service centers, and the free filing software provided by IRS "partners".
The results were hilarious. Using humans at the IRS service centers generated 75% correct returns.
Of the 25% incorrect, the results were all over the place, from an overpayment of $1,808, to an underpayment of $5,000.
Then the "auditors" tried creating returns with the free software provided by the various tax software companies. In this case only 57 percent of the returns were correct, with once again the results being an underpayment of a little over $1,000 to overpayments of over $5,000.
Something to keep in mind about these results. These were relatively simple returns, just think how much of a mess would have resulted if the sample returns were more complicated.
The bottom line is the tax code is way too complicated. When even agents of the IRS can not file a proper tax return it is time for Congress to take action.
