jgolden1[at]austin.rr.com wrote:

- quote -

Yes and no, respectively.

- quote -

Perhaps for the better. They likely reduced total "E&G"
staffing due to plummeting $/hour on examined returns. Once
any class of return falls much below the per hour results of
other classes, they just don't work so many. From IRS
viewpoint (and that of Congress) all you're otherwise doing
is hassling people for smaller $$.

I looked at stats on the IRS site, comparing some prior
years to 2004, and the trends are evident, due to changing
law and patterns of wealth. E.g., the growing % of an
estate which is real estate, likely a less productive issue.

I used to manage the function which selected income tax
returns for audit, but also allocated the staff years for
the specialists who screened the 706s and everything else.
There's not that many taxable estates filed, and they don't
take long to screen. Nontaxables need a big issue to trip to
potentially taxable. I imagine they can use
paraprofessionals in a centralized operation also to do the
initial cut. They also lately have more efficient systems
to reference related returns, like the decedent's
closely-held corp.

- quote -

Ouija Board? Any time span variance you experience could be
due to the ease with which some can be accepted, a function
of particular items on them as with any class of complex
return. Conversely, a return might be assigned for exam, but
later accepted as filed for a variety of reasons.

Fred F.

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

I have read here and there the average wait time for the
estate tax closure letter varies greatly:

(4-6) Months
(8-18) Months
9 months to a year

I even heard some as short as 3months and some as long as
29months and counting (thats a long time).

There is also this expedited handling request to insure it
will be done in 9 months, Is this a standered procedure or
just a preference? I've heard all the pros and cons.

On an estate that is considered large, does that factor in
how much effort and time the IRS looks at it? Do smaller
estates take longer because the attorneys figure there is
not much else to get out of a smaller estate and concentrate
on the big ones?

I've also read how they have let go of about half the team
of attorneys at the estate audit center, will this have a
big effect on productivity there, I would think.

What factors are there, if any, that can be used to
extrapolate the time of waiting?

Any comments are appreciated.

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >