IRS Fails as a Tax AdviserWritten by Tony Novak
The Internal Revenue Service conducted a study of quality of telephone advice it provides to taxpayers. It found that only 27% of callers actually received complete answers to their questions. Almost three quarters of callers were denied service, told to call back later, or had an excessive waiting time and simple hung up before speaking with a representative. Of those few callers that received complete answers, answers given by IRS representatives to tax law questions were correct only 50% of time.
| | College Tuition Prepayment Plans StumbleWritten by Tony Novak
Perhaps most heartbreaking casualties of recent stock market performance are 20 state-sponsored college tuition pre-payment plans throughout country. With college costs continuing to grow at a pace of about 9% per year and investment returns on plan assets being flat or negative, sponsors of various prepaid tuition programs now project long-term cash shortages. Investors in program thought that they had purchased “paid up” tuition credits under program, regardless of future rise in tuition costs. But now states anticipate notifying investors hat plan cannot meet its projections, and so investors must “pay up” by making additional investments or bail out of program. Colorado has already notified investors of default and other states anticipate similar actions in future. Other states are considering more creative options. Most plans agree that growth of plan assets will not keep pace with college tuition inflation over next decade.
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