IRS Estate Tax closure letter

I have read here and there the average wait time for the estate tax closure letter varies greatly: (4-6) Months (8-18) Months

9 months to a year

I even heard some as short as 3months and some as long as

29months and counting (thats a long time). There is also this expedited handling request to insure it will be done in 9 months, Is this a standered procedure or just a preference? I've heard all the pros and cons. On an estate that is considered large, does that factor in how much effort and time the IRS looks at it? Do smaller estates take longer because the attorneys figure there is not much else to get out of a smaller estate and concentrate on the big ones? I've also read how they have let go of about half the team of attorneys at the estate audit center, will this have a big effect on productivity there, I would think. What factors are there, if any, that can be used to extrapolate the time of waiting? Any comments are appreciated.

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Yes and no, respectively.

Perhaps for the better. They likely reduced total "E&G" staffing due to plummeting $/hour on examined returns. Once any class of return falls much below the per hour results of other classes, they just don't work so many. From IRS viewpoint (and that of Congress) all you're otherwise doing is hassling people for smaller $$. I looked at stats on the IRS site, comparing some prior years to 2004, and the trends are evident, due to changing law and patterns of wealth. E.g., the growing % of an estate which is real estate, likely a less productive issue. I used to manage the function which selected income tax returns for audit, but also allocated the staff years for the specialists who screened the 706s and everything else. There's not that many taxable estates filed, and they don't take long to screen. Nontaxables need a big issue to trip to potentially taxable. I imagine they can use paraprofessionals in a centralized operation also to do the initial cut. They also lately have more efficient systems to reference related returns, like the decedent's closely-held corp.

Ouija Board? Any time span variance you experience could be due to the ease with which some can be accepted, a function of particular items on them as with any class of complex return. Conversely, a return might be assigned for exam, but later accepted as filed for a variety of reasons. Fred F.