Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 21, 1990                   TAG: 9004230191
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GOBBLEDYGOOK

The darts come not from an English teachers' group, but a tax service. For the second year running, Comprehensive Accounting Corp. of Aurora, Ill., gave its "Most Incomprehensible Government Regulation Award" to the IRS for temporary Treasury Regulation 469-1T (f)(2)(i)(C). To wit:

"If the taxpayer's passive activity gross income from significant participation passive activities (within the meaning of section 1.4692T(f)(2) through (4)) exceeds the taxpayer's passive activity deductions from such activities for the taxable year, such activities shall be treated, solely for purposes of applying this paragraph (f)(2)(i) for the taxable year, as a single activity that does not have a loss for such taxable year."

The accounting firm made the award for the best possible reason: It can't understand the regulation. An IRS spokesman, Steven Pyrek, agreed that the section is "complicated." Why? Because passive income (which usually means rental income) is "a complicated law to begin with." We'll take his word for it.

Pyrek adds that Temporary Treasury Regulation 469-1T, etc., etc., shouldn't concern most taxpayers. These regs "are not intended to be read by the general public." The IRS has tax "guides that are designed for the public." Presumably, members of the IRS priesthood speak to each other in tongues.

He's right in that most of us need never trouble ourselves about the more arcane IRS regulations. Those who must - lawyers, accountants and, we'd guess, some IRS employees themselves - may figure that the 1986 tax reforms didn't go nearly far enough.