OT Fed income tax forms

[---MIKE---]

Is it true that the IRS will not be mailing out tax forms (including address labels) this year?

---MIKE---

>In the White Mountains of New Hampshire >> (44=B0 15' N - Elevation 1580')

[Nancy Young]

I got a postcard in the mail. Details here:

Individual and business taxpayers will no longer receive paper income tax packages in the mail from the IRS. These tax packages contained the forms, schedules and instructions for filing a paper income tax return.

The IRS is taking this step because of the continued growth in electronic filing and the availability of free options to taxpayers, as well as to help reduce costs.

In early October, the IRS sent a postcard to individuals who filed paper returns last year and did not use a tax preparer or tax software. The information explains how to get the tax forms and instructions they need for filing their tax year 2010 return. The forms and instructions will be available in early January 2011.

nancy

[mm]

Well I guess we are too late. Early January is over.

[Hell Toupee]

Yes, it's true. You can continue to get copies of the forms and instructions from libraries, post offices, and local tax offices. You can also go to the IRS website and print copies for yourself.

[gfretwell]

IRS.GOV has PDFs of most of the forms that have replaceable fields that you can fill out on your PC. If they would just do the arithmetic it would be real easy

[Tony Sivori]

You can call the IRS at 1-800-829-3676 and request your forms be mailed to you.

If you use Schedule A, the mailing will be delayed due to last minute tax changes.

[Ralph Mowery]

There are some nongovernment places that will. Here is one.

[Tony Sivori]

Not in my location (Louisville KY).

Except for the request by mail option, that is the only way to get free forms in my location.

Why use your own paper and ink when the IRS should provide taxpayers with free forms?

[hrhofmann]

I have ordered a bunch of forms that I need from the IRS web site. Due to only 10 items at a time, I had to place multiple orders. Only

2 out of 5 orders have been received, the other 3 I got a postcard saying they were being updated due to the last-minute congressional changes to the tax laws. So, I can't do anything until I get all the forms because of the interections between them.

[mm]

A lot of people have no use for blank forms. So they won't be using their own paper or ink.

They fill out the forms on the computer and print them only after that, a copy the IRS can't provide.

I've tried to get the IRS to send me the forms already filled out but they claim they don't know my deductions, etc.

[Red]

New Hampshire

According to the IRS website, one can e-file free if their AGI is less that $58k. But companies that provide the free e-filing require you upload your data to them online. Now uploading personal data, including SS numbers, to online businesses gives me a lot of heartburn. I've been hacked before, so how do I know that "Peggy" is not at the receiving end of my uploads?? I will continue to do my filing manually and send them via USPS. Besides, e-filing just makes IRS workers jobs easier so why not make them work for what they get from me.

[George]

I guess the really sad part is why we still allow all of this.

Replace it all (including weasel "nuisance" taxes on phone service and the like) with a consumption based flat tax with exemptions for basic necessities just like sales taxes are applied.

No tedious forms or reporting required. And the more you spend the more you pay. What could be fairer?

[Ed Pawlowski]

? "George" wrote

The people writing the tax code don't want fairness. Most of the electorate don't know what fairness is, they just want the burden shifted to others.

If the government (no matter what form, local, state, federal) want to increase a tax on the citizens, they scream and yell. Then that government says "we'll tax businesses", we all give a sigh of relief since those big businesses will pay the tax, not us. Then we wonder why prices go up. I think the deficit should be made up by taxing haircuts. Put a $10 tax on every barber visit. Not having been to a barber in the past 5 years, it is a fair tax to me.

[krw]

But Obummer doesn't want to increase federal revenue he wants it to be "fair".

That's a *lot* of haircuts!

[gfretwell]

Last year it would let you type into the fields but nothing was totaled of moved into other fields. You can transcribe from the work sheets and use a calculator to make a pretty printed form but it is far from computer assisted.

[mm]

Peggy? Do you mean the big burly woman who handles credit card complaints but just lets the phone ring or puts everyeone on hold?

She seems to lazy to do that, but her husband Chip handles about half the work and he seems just the type.

???

[George]

As you said lots of folks like to think "others" are paying. I always have to laugh when everyone goes gaga about about how much their congressman *brought in* to their district. "I am running for reelection and I want you to remember *I* brought $500 million into the district last year.." neglecting to note that we paid $1 billion (or more) in. Tony Soprano would love to be doing as well.

[aemeijers]

A favorite pet peeve of mine- they act like money from DC is Mana from heaven. One of many sins committed by Richard Nixon- the modern era of 'revenue sharing' (really, deficit sharing) started on his watch, and he got the states and large cities hooked on it like crack. Taxes that pay for local services should be collected and spent locally, not via Washington DC, with their 20% off the top.

[Red]

.

Data entry. Conversion from paper to digital. Especially if you are sloppy enough where a scanner has problems reading it.

[mm]

What I meant was, "???, What a silly thing to do, to try to waste the IRS's time." Making someone's job harder doesn't make them work harder. It just takes them longer to do it, which means if they work for the govt. taxpayers have to hire more people or wait longer for the work to get done.

You waste a little of everyone's money if you go out of your way to make it harder for the IRS.