> 2a. Re: W2G
>
> <<However I have to say again that the IRS themselves
> told me yesterday that
> for some reason now there is a limit of 30 W2G's to e-file.
> I'm really tempted to put the total under miscellaneous as
> you do.>>
>
> The IRS help line is notorious for giving out
> misinformation.
>
I believe that the IRS has a "disclaimer" somewhere advising that its own advice can't be relied upon or used as evidence of right-doing if you are audited. This certainly reflects the IRS's own level of trust / confidence in its own advice.
Try calling again and see if you get different advice each time.
And if they tell you something you don't believe is correct, ask for the relevant tax code citation. This is also helpful in an audit when they claim you have to do something -- "where's the rule?" is a great question, as many of the agents are mis-informed and mis-educated, even if they have good intent, and certainly there is a percentage that struggles with understanding the rules they are administering!
As I like to state it, "the sophistication and knowledge of the typical IRS agents is substantially overestimated by the IRS".
I have a friend who used to work for the IRS and now is in the private sector protecting taxpayers (OK, and some who didn't pay) from IRS abuses of the tax code and applicable policies. The abuses are frequent, mistakes by the IRS are common, and they often result in the taxpayer getting away with things that they in fact should not have gotten away with -- but the IRS is required to go by the rules, but sometimes the agent's incompetence results in the rules being broken.
--BG
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