The Prez was supposed to sign a new tax bill yesterday that impacts on Y2K matters. Now we all know our boy doesn't always do what he says he will do, but this one looks like a lock.

Under the Act, the IRS is authorized to postpone, on a taxpayer-by-taxpayer basis, certain tax-related deadlines for up to 90 days in the case of a taxpayer that the IRS determines to have been affected by an actual Y2K-related failure. In order to be eligible for relief, taxpayers must have made a good faith, reasonable effort to avoid any Y2K failures. This should cover all taxes, including employment and withholding taxes. I haven't read the Act as yet but I suspect each taxpayer will have to request an extension in writing.

Thwe bill is called the "Ticket-To-Work and Work Incentivess Improvement Act of 1999." I hope this helps some of you. Typically, thise type of legislation is designed to be helpful to taxpayers, and the Feds will probably be lenient on requests to use its provisions.

-- mike (maples@voy.net), December 18, 1999

Answers

>the IRS is authorized to postpone, on a taxpayer-by-taxpayer basis [ ... ]

Where is the IRS going to get enough workers to process all of these requests, especially if there are power and/or IRS computer problems?

Our Prez can sign nearly anything that he wants, but that doesn't make it possible to do "manually." If there are wide-spread problems, I think the folks who foresee a "flat tax" are correct ... that makes the most sense to me, given everything that the IRS now does by computer and the logistical nightmare of bringing in clerks (and training them!) for manual processing.

Also, for those who claim that we're just going to put all the welfare clients into clerk positions: bear in mind that many folks in the welfare system can barely read and can't concentrate long enough to fill out a job application form, let alone process tax payer requests.

-- (ladybuckeye_59@yahoo.com), December 18, 1999.

Sending in a request puts you back in the system why not stay lost lol

-- Susan Barrett (sue59@bellsouth.net), December 19, 1999.