Revenue collected by IRS agents declined 9% in fiscal year 2012. A Treasury inspector general report in September attributed the decline to a 14% drop in the number of IRS agents. The IRS has had to cut 8,000 full-time positions since fiscal year 2010, with 5,000 of them specifically from enforcement of the tax laws . . . . The fact that a parent company or partner guarantees payment of rent, debt or other obligations can produce favorable tax consequences. The IRS is expected to require in regulations this fall that a partner who guarantees partnership debts or other obligations must show it has an adequate net worth to make good on a guarantee before the agency will treat the guarantee as real.