How To Get Tax Help

You can get help with unresolved tax issues, order free publications and forms, ask tax questions, and get more information from the IRS in several ways. By selecting the method that is best for you, you will have quick and easy access to tax help.

Contacting your Taxpayer Advocate. If you have attempted to deal with an IRS problem unsuccessfully, you should contact your Taxpayer Advocate.

The Taxpayer Advocate represents your interests and concerns within the IRS by protecting your rights and resolving problems that have not been fixed through normal channels. While Taxpayer Advocates cannot change the tax law or make a technical tax decision, they can clear up problems that resulted from previous contacts and ensure that your case is given a complete and impartial review.

To contact your Taxpayer Advocate:

• Call the Taxpayer Advocate at
  1-877-777-4778.
• Call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040.
• Call, write, or fax the Taxpayer Advocate office in your area.
• Call 1-800-829-4059 if you are a
  TTY/TDD user.

For more information, see Publication 1546, The Taxpayer Advocate Service of the IRS.

Free tax services. To find out what services are available, get Publication 910, Guide to Free Tax Services. It contains a list of free tax publications and an index of tax topics. It also describes other free tax information services, including tax education and assistance programs and a list of TeleTax topics.

	Personal computer. With your personal computer and modem, you can access the IRS on the Internet at www.irs.gov. While visiting our web site, you can: Find answers to questions you may have. Download forms and publications or search for forms and publications by topic or keyword. View forms that may be filled in electronically, print the completed form, and then save the form for recordkeeping. View Internal Revenue Bulletins published in the last few years. Search regulations and the Internal Revenue Code. Receive our electronic newsletters on hot tax issues and news. Get information on starting and operating a small business. You can also reach us with your computer using File Transfer Protocol at ftp.irs.gov.
	TaxFax Service. Using the phone attached to your fax machine, you can receive forms and instructions by calling 703-368-9694. Follow the directions from the prompts. When you order forms, enter the catalog number for the form you need. The items you request will be faxed to you For help with transmission problems, call the FedWorld Help Desk at 703-487-4608.
	Phone. Many services are available by phone. Ordering forms, instructions, and publications. Call 1-800-829-3676 to order current and prior year forms, instructions, and publications. Asking tax questions. Call the IRS with your tax questions at 1-800-829-1040. TTY/TDD equipment. If you have access to TTY/TDD equipment, call 1-800-829- 4059 to ask tax questions or to order forms and publications. TeleTax topics. Call 1-800-829-4477 to listen to pre-recorded messages covering various tax topics. Evaluating the quality of our telephone services. To ensure that IRS representatives give accurate, courteous, and professional answers, we evaluate the quality of our telephone services in several ways. A second IRS representative sometimes monitors live telephone calls. That person only evaluates the IRS assistor and does not keep a record of any taxpayer's name or tax identification number. We sometimes record telephone calls to evaluate IRS assistors objectively. We hold these recordings no longer than one week and use them only to measure the quality of assistance. We value our customers' opinions. Throughout this year, we will be surveying our customers for their opinions on our service.
	Walk-in. You can walk in to many post offices, libraries, and IRS offices to pick up certain forms, instructions, and publications. Some IRS offices, libraries, grocery stores, copy centers, city and county governments, credit unions, and office supply stores have an extensive collection of products available to print from a CD-ROM or photocopy from reproducible proofs. Also, some IRS offices and libraries have the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, Internal Revenue Bulletins, and Cumulative Bulletins available for research purposes.
	Mail. You can send your order for forms, instructions, and publications to the Distribution Center nearest to you and receive a response within 10 workdays after your request is received. Find the address that applies to your part of the country. Western part of U.S.: Western Area Distribution Center Rancho Cordova, CA 95743-0001 Central part of U.S.: Central Area Distribution Center P.O. Box 8903 Bloomington, IL 61702-8903 Eastern part of U.S. and foreign addresses: Eastern Area Distribution Center P.O. Box 85074 Richmond, VA 23261-5074
	CD-ROM. You can order IRS Publication 1796, Federal Tax Products on CD-ROM, and obtain: Current tax forms, instructions, and publications. Prior-year tax forms and instructions. Popular tax forms that may be filled in electronically, printed out for submission, and saved for recordkeeping. Internal Revenue Bulletins. The CD-ROM can be purchased from National Technical Information Service (NTIS) by calling 1-877-233-6767 or on the Internet at www.irs.gov. The first release is available in mid-December and the final release is available in late January. IRS Publication 3207, Small Business Resource Guide, is an interactive CD-ROM that contains information important to small businesses. It is available in mid-February. You can get one free copy by calling 1-800-829-3676 or visiting the IRS web site at www.irs.gov.

Written tax questions. You can send your written tax questions to your IRS office. You should get an answer in about 30 days. If you do not have the address, you can get it by calling 1-800-829-1040. Do not send tax questions with your return.

Braille tax materials. Braille tax materials are available for review from Regional Libraries for the Visually Impaired in conjunction with the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. To locate your nearest library, write to:
National Library Service for
  the Blind and Physically
  Handicapped
Library of Congress
1291 Taylor St., NW
Washington, DC 20542

Braille materials currently available for review include this publication, Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business, and Forms 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ and their instructions.

Assistance with your return. IRS offices can help you prepare your return. An assistor will explain a Form 1040EZ, 1040A, or 1040 with Schedules A and B to you and other taxpayers in a group setting. You may also be able to file your return electronically by computer free of charge at some IRS offices. To find the IRS office nearest you, look in the phone book under "United States Government, Internal Revenue Service" or call 1-800-829-1040.

At all IRS offices you can also get help with questions about IRS notices or bills.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE). Free help from volunteers is available in most communities. After completing IRS training, these volunteers help prepare basic tax returns for taxpayers with special needs, including low-income people, persons with disabilities, the elderly, and non-English-speaking people. At some of these offices, you can file your tax return electronically. See IRS e-file in chapter 1 for information on electronic filing.

Call the IRS for the location of the volunteer assistance site near you. Or, for the location of an American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Tax-Aide site in your community, call 1-877-227-7844 or visit their Internet Web Site at www.aarp.org/taxaide.

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