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For each tax form, the IRS is required to provide an estimate of the time that is required for the taxpayer to keep records, to read the instructions, to prepare the form and to prepare it for mailing to the IRS. It appears that the IRS bases their estimates on minimum amount of time required for each part of the process and that the taxpayer is a tax professional. Here are their estimates for the average filing time for each part of the process of preparing the estate tax return.These estimates are the sum of the separate estimates for each of the various schedules. Thus, these amounts presume that the return would involve every supporting schedule that could be required with the estate tax return.

Stages of the Process	Time Required
Recordkeeping	9 hours, 40 minutes
Reading the instructions	6 hours, 44 minutes
Preparing the form	11 hours, 14 minutes
Copying, collating and mailing	8 hours, 45 minutes
Total time	36 hours, 23 minutes

Does it seem a little ludicrous that the IRS estimates the time required to read the instructions is about 2/3 of the estimated recordkeeping time and about 1/2 of the time required to prepare the form? If an estate had assets that would require the preparation of every supporting schedule in the estate tax return, it would take a skilled professional with a good quality computer system a lot more than the estimate given by the IRS.

Tax Data

IRS Publications

For a copy of the following IRS publications, visit their web site at

http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/index.html

Link on the section for IRS publications and select

* Publication 15 Circular E - Employer's Tax Guide
* Publication 393 - Federal Employment Tax Forums
* Publication 505 - Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax
* Publication 937 - Employment Taxes
* Publication 1976 - Independent Contractor or Employee?

Taxpayers' Relief Act of 1997 - Employment Taxes

Further details about legal methods of tax avoidance are available in our subscriber's web site. Changes in the tax laws and research reports on how to avoid excessive taxes are provided in our monthly newsletter - Vern Jacobs' Tax Solutions

About the author:

Vernon Jacobs is a CPA/CLU who works as a tax author and consultant. He writes Vern Jacob s' Tax Solutions, is the author of The Jacobs Report on Asset Protection Strategies, and serves as the Tax Editor for OFFSHORE, an eJournal. He has “big six” CPA experience and spent 12 years as a senior financial executive for an insurance company. He’s been the software columnist for Personal Financial Planning for five years. His email address is vkj@rpifs.com and his web site is http://www.rpifs.com/apvkj.htm He can be reached by phone or fax at (913) 362-9667.