The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-03-03

Catton the country. By May 1 the work of setting up 10 regional divisions will be completed, and the 600 technical advisers on the staff will be out where the tax payers can get at them without taking long trip to Washington.
 Income tax returns are already starting to come in, but for the present they are simply being di- vided into two piles - returns on on incomes under $5,0O0, and re- turns on incomes over that amount. When the March IS deadline arrives, Internal Revenue Bureau deputies will begin checking the returns to see that everything is on the ur and up.
 IT'S NO PROBLEM
 UNDER $5,O0O
 Disputes over taxes in the less. than-$5000 bracket don't cause much fuss. The sum involved is small, anc mostly deputy can get things set tied by simply making a call or the taxpayer and having 8 chat It's in the over-$5000 bracket that things really happen.
 First of all, the returns are checked for obvious mathemat- ical errors and mistakes in com putting the amount of tax due. (YOu might be surprised to learn that 8 great many citizens pay more than they need to-or try to pay it, anyhow. They're always set straight, painlessly.)
 The returns in which errors art found go to revenue agents in the field. These agents, who are pri. marily auditors, check through tht returns again, and the taxpayer i. called in. Often enough, an adjust. ment can be made right away. I! motif the agent finds a deficiency in the tax and the taxpayer can see it that way-then the fiele agents superior calls a conference of agent and taxpayer and another attempt to reach an agreement i, made.
 If the taxpayer still feels that he isn't getting justice, he may appea from these findings to the technica. staff; and here is where the i'm. portance of the current decentrali- zation of the technical staff comes in. For in most cases the sum al stake is comparatively small-a hun. dred dollars or so. When the tech. l nical staff was in Washington, tn, taxpayer who wanted to appeal tt it had to come down here to do tn, appealing; chances were it woult | cost him more to do that than h' would save by winning his case. l AVAILABILITY
 IS AIM
 Now, however, the regional offic of the technical staff is likely to b within fairly easy reach. The tax payer can go to that office and la the whole case before the technica adviser, who will then hand dow his decision.
 As far as the Bureau of Internal
 Revenue Is concerned, that is
 final. But the taxpayer who wants
 to keep on fighting may do so, by
 appealing to the Board of Tax
 Appeals. This board-it has Is
 members, by the way-is going to
 follow the policy of the technical
 staff and make itself more easily
 available to the taxpayer, too IL
 will ride circuit" so to speak
 hold sittings in different parts of
 the country. so that the taxpayer can get at it more conveniently.
 The case usually ends with tn Board of Tax Appeals, althoug anyone who wants to (alad can af ford to) can always go to the Fed eral Court. The only sure thin about such a procedure, though, that 1t will be expensive.
 In the fiscal year of 1888, tn Board of Tax Appeals disposed ( 5j89 cases, involving total tax pay ments of $134,519,0OO. Of this sun the government finally collecte $36,613, ,000. In other words, when h has rows with taxpayers, Uncle Sar collects about 27 per cent of tn time.
 Copyright, 1889, NEA Service, Inc.