| Publication 516 |
2001 Tax Year |
How To Get Tax Help
You can 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. Access to most of these services depends on whether you are
inside or outside the United States.
Services Available
Inside the
United States
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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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
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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.
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Services Available Outside the United States
During the filing period (January to mid-June), you can get the necessary
federal tax forms and publications from U.S. Embassies and consulates.
You can request Package 1040-7 for Overseas Filers, which contains special
forms with instructions and Publication 54.
Also during the filing season, the IRS conducts an overseas taxpayer
assistance program. To find out if IRS personnel will be in your area,
you should contact the consular office at the nearest U.S. Embassy.
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Phone.You can also call your nearest U.S. Embassy,
consulate, or IRS office listed below to find out when and where
assistance will be available. These IRS telephone numbers include
the country and city codes required if you are outside the local
dialing area.
| Berlin, Germany |
(49) |
(30) |
8305-1140 |
| London, England |
(44) |
(207) |
408-8077 |
| Mexico City, Mexico |
(52) |
(5) |
209-9100 |
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Ext. 3557 |
| Paris, France |
(33) |
(1) |
4312-2555 |
| Rome, Italy |
(39) |
(06) |
4674-2560 |
| Singapore |
(65) |
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476-9413 |
| Tokyo, Japan |
(81) |
(3) |
3224-5466 |
Overseas taxpayers can also call the Puerto Rico site for
help at (787) 759-5100.
If you are in Guam, the Bahamas, U.S. Virgin Islands, or Puerto
Rico, you can call 1-800-829-1040.
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Mail. For answers to technical or account questions,
you can write to:
Internal Revenue Service
International Returns Section
P.O. Box 920
Bensalem, PA 19020-8518.
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Personal computer. With your personal computer and
modem, you can access the IRS on the Internet at www.irs.gov.
For more information on the website, see Personal computer under
Services Available Inside the United States, earlier.
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.
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Mail. Persons living outside
the United States may contact the Taxpayer Advocate at:
Internal Revenue Service
Taxpayer Advocate
P.O. Box 193479
San Juan, PR 00919. |
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Phone. You can call the Taxpayer
Advocate at (787) 759-4501. You can also contact one of the
IRS offices located abroad, listed earlier. |
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Fax. You can fax the Taxpayer
Advocate at (787) 759-4535. |
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