The tax cut is retroactive to the first of the year, therefore taxes for the
first half of the year were withheld at an excessive rate.  I fail to
understand how returning that over-withholding can be regarded as a loan.
Maybe I'm just dense...

-----Original Message-----
From: Wirt Atmar [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2001 5:22 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: OT: Tax "refund" checks


Ron writes:

>  http://www.irs.gov/ind_info/apinfo/index.html
>
>  All the info you ever wanted, right on the IRS web site.
>
>  Seems pretty simple to me.  I hope your firm is no longer telling
>  folks it's an "anticipation loan" as that is wildly off the mark.

"Wildly" is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. The people we do taxes
for
don't tend to understand the tax code deeply, of course. If they did, we
wouldn't have reason to be in business.

The IRS, as you see in the URL above, is describing the check as an "advance
payment." If the choice were to describe the check as a "tax refund" or a
"tax rebate," as it is constantly being described in the media, or as "an
anticipation loan," the latter would seem to be a more accurate description.
It's certainly a more readily understood concept.

The only thing that is misleading about using the term "loan" is that there
is no interest associated with the early payment. But it does seem to get
the
idea across a great deal quicker about what the check is and what it
represents than most of the descriptions currently in use.

Wirt Atmar

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