If the IRS were to publish accuracy rates according to degree of difficulty of the question, you would probably find that the error rate goes up with increasing level of difficulty. The more difficult your question, the less likely you'll get a correct answer. This has been proven many times by magazine and newspaper reporters who call numerous IRS offices with moderately difficult questions only to get variously different answers. First, unless you tape the conversation, you could never prove what was actually said. Third, the IRS is a word factory, and the spoken words cannot be traced.
Tax law is written law.
The only advice the IRS stands on is published advice. Whenever you call or visit the IRS, always ask for a publication related to the topic of your question, so that you can do your own research. Do this even if you feel confident that you've gotten a concise and accurate answer from Taxpayer Service. Exhibit 2-2 has a complete listing of all these publications and the type of information in each. A note of caution is in order here.