European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 5, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday october 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 19. Money matter sirs unveils file by phone plan Washington apr marking another step into the electronic age the internal Revenue service said this it is testing a plan that will allow some unmarried taxpayers to file their returns by Telephone. The test will begin in Ohio next year. A taxpayer will use a touch tone phone to enter his or her social Security number total wages interest and tax withheld. Within a few seconds an irs computer will Tell the taxpayer How much refund or additional tax is owed. A refund could be in the mail in three weeks or less. A a we re trying hard to make things easier for our taxpayers a irs commissioner Fred t. Goldberg or. Told a news conference in announcing the test of telefilm and other initiatives. A fall of these options reduce the tax filing Burden for citizens and give us More accurate in the Ohio test the telefilm option will be available Only to people who qualify to file the single Page form 1040ez single no dependents total income under $50,000 and All of it in wages except up to $400 of interest. The irs expects that More than 19 million of the 113 million returns to be filed next year will be on 1040ez. The irs also announced these initiatives a a test of an Evetie simpler paper form 1040ez-1, will be extended to More than 300,000 tax acis in Texas Washington and Rhode Island. This form which includes Only two yes or no boxes to Check and two figures to enter was tested in Texas this year but results were inconclusive because Only about 10 percent of the 3,000 people invited to use it did so. The new form like telefilm requires no tax or refund calculations the irs does both. A the highly successful electronic filing system under which private companies transmit returns by computer and Telephone for a fee will be expanded nationwide next year to cover returns on which taxes Are owed. In most states electronic filing was offered this year Only for refund returns. More than 7.5 million couples and individuals filed electronic returns this year next year the irs expects 10 million. A taxpayers in South Carolina and parts of six states a West Virginia North Carolina new York Maine Kansas and Wiston Suji a will be offered one Stop electronic filing next y6ar Federal and state returns filed together to the irs. The irs will pass along pertinent information to state Revenue authorities. This year the plan was tested in parts of South Carolina. A taxpayers in All states will have the option next year of using a answer sheets generated by Home computer in place of Standard irs tax forms. The sheets must be signed and mailed to the irs. Goldberg showed a Sample Sheet in which a couple that itemized deductions and claimed a child care credit were Able to compress their entire tax return a including two schedules and the child care form a onto a single Page. The irs service Center in Memphis tested this �?o1040pc�?� concept this year and found a High accuracy rate and lower processing costs among the 39,000 returns that used the computer sheets. Officials said More than three dozen private companies have expressed an interest in marketing the necessary computer software. Goldberg said the Agency has no Way of knowing How Many of 1.2 million Ohio residents who arc eligible to file form 1040ez will take advantage of the new Telephone filing system. For Security reasons Only those filers who have the same address this year As in 1990 will be allowed to use telefilm. The irs expects each Call to the telefilm toll free number will take about five minutes to Complete. After being told How much tax is owed or How much refund is due the taxpayer signs and mails form 1040-tel.some stocks not so risky analysts say by Chet Currier a business writer new York a for conservative savers and investors suffering from a yield Shock a some financial advisers suggest a surprising remedy stocks and Stock Mutual funds. Right up front these analysts acknowledge that they Are talking to a group of people that View the Stock Market almost by definition As too volatile and risky to Trust. And they concede that by most Standard definitions of safety and stability Stock investments will never be comparable with say a Bank certificate of Deposit backed by insurance from the Federal government. But if you Stop with that perception of risk they contend you risk overlooking some Points of considerable interest to investors looking for income from their savings a especially in these times of Low and falling yields on Many types of investments. When people take Money out of cd or Money Market Mutual funds these Days in quest of a better return they most often move the Money to a Lon term interest bearing investment such As a fund that owns government Bonds. A these Are the closest alternatives to what they own a says Reg Green editor of the Mutual fund news service in Bodega Bay Calif. A Only a few of them have chosen Stock funds even though some of the leaders have a history of increasing income year after year. A while government Bond fund sales have soared 80 percent this year sales of growth and income funds Are up Only about 20 Bond funds like Stock funds Are subject to the ups and Downs of Market conditions. They chalked up Strong gains Over the past few months As interest rates fell. But so have some conservative Stock investments notably the shares of electric Utility companies which Are often described on Wall Street As a Bond in late summer pointed out Robert Ritter an analyst at the investment firm of Ladenburg Thalmann amp co., Standard amp poor a Index of electric Utility stocks reached a new High surpassing peaks reached in 1989 and 1965. Like Bonds electric Utility stocks tend to Rise in Price when falling Market interest rates enhance the attractiveness of the dividends they pay. Furthermore Utility stocks can offer something Bonds typically cannot the Hope of future dividend increases to counter the erosive effects of inflation. A with interest rates still in a downtrend and investors searching for alternatives to Low yielding Money Market instruments the Utility groups near term prospects remain Bright a says the investment advisory service Dow theory forecasts in Hammond ind. A but not All utilities Are created equal and investors recent thirst for yield May be masking some fundamental trends in the electric Power Industry. A incentive regulation and no Utility operations should provide utilities with unparalleled growth opportunities in the 1990s, but with those opportunities come risks. A utilities remain excellent investments for conservative income oriented investors. But selectivity is crucial and the current environment favors utilities with Bright growth Home sales Bounce Back in August Washington apr new Home sales surged 6.7 percent in August to their highest level in a year according to a government report this week that showed the housing recovery remained on track after a Brief Retreat. Most analysts said Home buyers took advantage of falling mortgage rates to re enter the Market. The renewed sales they contended should spark More housing starts and permit the Industry to continue its traditional role of leading the Economy out of recession. All regions registered increased sales except for the West where Home buying activity was Flat. Sales in the Midwest which had plunged in july rebounded strongly and More than made up the loss. Nationally sales of new single family Homes totalled a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 540,000 a up from a sharply revised 506,000 rate a month earlier a according to the departments of Commerce and housing and Urban development. The departments originally estimated july sales to have fallen 8.5 percent but changed that to a 2.7 percent drop in wednesdays report. At the same time they lowered june a initial 4.0 percent Advance to a 2.6 percent gain. The july decline was the first since sales fell to a 414,000 rate last january the trough of the housing recession. The August rebound boosted the rate to the highest level since a 541,000 sales Pace in july 1990. A quite clearly mortgage rates continued to decline in August and that brought buyers off the sidelines and Back into the Market a said Mark Obrinsky an economist with the Federal National mortgage association. Interest on 30-year, fixed rate conventional mortgages has continued to fall averaging 8.92 percent during the week ending sept. 27. That was the lowest level in 14 years according to the Federal Home loan mortgage corp. But despite the favourable mortgage environment most analysts agreed the housing recovery will remain moderate. Thomas Holloway an economist with the mortgage Bankers association said two fundamentals will restrain sales a a sluggish economic growth and thus sluggish employment growth and problems with consumer economist David f. Seiders of the National association of Home builders agreed. He is forecasting new Home sales to total just 500,000 this year Down from 534,000 last year and the lowest since 412,000 in the recession year of 1982. The sales Pace for the first eight months of 1991 was 10.1 percent below that of the same period last year. The government report said a seasonally adjusted 290,000 new Homes were on the Market at the end of August representing a Supply of 6.6 months at the current sales rate. That was Down from 9.3-month Supply in january and the lowest since a similar Supply in november 1989. Analysts said the lean inventory should Spur new construction a if builders can obtain financing in a Market dominated by restrictive lending practices. If not Seiders warned inventories will be drawn Down even More resulting in a Strong increases in prices. The median Price of a new Home was $122,000, up from $120,200 in july. The median Means half of the Homes Cost More half less. Regionally sales soared 24.7 percent in the Midwest to a 101,000 annual rate and wiped out the 15.6 percent loss a month earlier. Holloway said the july decline was a a statistical anomaly that was washed out in the August report. In the South sales Rose 5.7 percent to a 221,000 rate after falling 1.4 percent in july. Seiders said the Pace was led by sales in the Southwest. The Northeast posted a 3.0 percent gain to a 69,000 rate slowing from a 13.6 percent Advance the previous month. It is another sign a the Market there has truly bottomed out a Seiders said. However sales were unchanged at a 149,000 rate in the West after falling 2.0 percent in july. Seiders said the Region was the a last part of the country to weaken during the recession and a still has a bit of Healing to
