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To: stevenallen who wrote (38584)	5/2/2003 1:49:52 AM
From: stevenallen	Respond to of 57110

Looks like fraud has it's perks afterall! Dow Jones Business News Companies Want IRS Refunds After Inflating Their Income Friday May 2, 12:46 am ET A parade of big companies is under investigation for inflating their earnings during the stock-market boom of the 1990s. Now some of them see an unusual silver lining: They want back the taxes they overpaid along the way, Friday's Wall Street Journal reported. In the latest wrinkle in the unfolding series of corporate scandals, MCI and Enron Corp. are in the process of collecting or filing for tax refunds or credits from the Internal Revenue Service because of tax payments on billions of dollars they falsely claimed to have earned. Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE:Q - News), which plans to restate $2.2 billion in revenue, also is likely to seek a refund. Embattled HealthSouth Corp., accused of overstating its earnings by more than $2 billion, said that it hasn't made a final decision to file for a refund but is considering it. Fraud or not, the current tax code makes no distinctions. It is a basic tenet of tax law -- both for individuals and corporations -- that those who overpay are entitled to a refund. "It's ironic," said Seth Taub, a former chief of enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission (News - Websites). "But it's the old story, the less money you make, the less you owe the government." With the number of corporate scandals and expected financial restatements at a historic high, no one knows just yet how much the federal government could have to forfeit on the refunds and credits. Even if such credits are ultimately lowered as part of settlements, observers believe that the federal government will probably be out hundreds of millions of dollars. Wall Street Journal Staff Reporters Rebecca Blumenstein, Dennis K. Berman and Evan Perez contributed to this report.