You can get tax help, ask tax questions, learn tax facts, and get information from the IRS in several ways. Whether it’s by phone, mail, online, or face-to-face, the Internal Revenue provides the tax help that you need.

Here are the options available to taxpayers for resolving issues with the IRS:

The Taxpayer Advocate Service

The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is an independent organization within the IRS that helps taxpayers unable to provide essentials like food, housing and transportation; who are seeking tax help or trying to resolve tax problems; and those who believe an IRS procedure is not working as it should. Here are some tax facts about the Taxpayer Advocate Service:

• The Taxpayer Advocate Service is your voice at the IRS.
• TAS is free, confidential, and tailored to your tax needs.
• You may be eligible for the tax help service if you’ve tried to resolve your tax problem through normal IRS channels and have gotten nowhere.
• This IRS tax service helps individual taxpayers and businesses whose problems are causing financial difficulty or significant cost, including the cost of hiring professional help, like a tax attorney.
• TAS employees know the IRS and how to navigate it. Taxpayers who qualify for the service will be assigned an advocate who will listen to your problem, understand how to resolve it, and follow through until the resolution of the tax problem.
• There is a tax advocate in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. You can visit the IRS website www.irs.gov/advocate to find your local Taxpayer Advocate.

Low Income Taxpayer Clinics (LITCs)

The Low Taxpayer Clinic program serves individuals who have a problem with the IRS and whose income is below a certain level. LITCs are independent from the IRS. Most LITCs can provide representation before the IRS or in court on audits, tax collection disputes, and other issues for free or a small fee. If an individual’s native language is not English, some clinics can provide multilingual information about taxpayer rights and responsibilities.

Free Tax Services

Taxpayers who want to learn about the various IRS services and resources, should refer to IRS Publication 910, IRS Guide to Free Tax Services. The guide includes free tax information from the IRS, publications, services, and education and assistance programs. Taxpayers can also get facts about taxes.

Free Help With Your Tax Return

Free help in preparing your return is available nationwide from IRS-trained volunteers. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is designed to help low-income taxpayers and the Tax counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program is designed to assist taxpayers age 60 and older with their tax returns. Many VITA sites offer free electronic filing and all volunteers will let you know about credits and deductions you may be entitled to claim. To find the nearest VITA or TCE site, call 1-800-829-1040.
As part of the TCE program, AARP offers the Tax-Aide counseling program. To find the nearest AARP Tax-Aide site, call 1-888-227-7669 or visit AARP Tax-Aide online.

Internet

Many taxpayers prefer using the IRS website for getting IRS tax help and answers to their tax questions. Using the IRS website, taxpayers can also:

• Efile.
  Find out about commercial tax preparation and efile services available free to eligible taxpayers.
• Check the status of your tax refund.
  You can go to IRS.gov and click on Where’s My Refund. Wait at least 72 hours after the IRS acknowledges receipt of your efiled return, or 3 to 4 weeks after mailing a paper return. Have your tax return available so you can provide your social security number, your filing status and the exact amount of your refund.
• Download tax forms, instructions and IRS publications.
• Order IRS products online.
• Research your tax questions online.
• Discover interesting tax facts
• Search publications online by topic or keyword.
• Use the online Internal Revenue Code, regulations, or other offical guidance.
• Figure your withholding allowances using the online withholding calculator.
• Determine if Form 6251 must be filed by using the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) Assistant.
• Sign up to receive local and national tax news by email.
• Get information on starting and operating a small business.

Phone

The IRS provides tax help and services via phone. Call the IRS to:

• Order forms, instructions and publications by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676).
• Ask your tax questions and get tax facts from IRS experts, by calling 1-800-829-1040.
• Solve tax problems
  You can get face-to-face help solving tax problems every business day at the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers. Call your local Taxpayer Assistance for an appointment. To find the one closest to you go to local Taxpayer Assistance.
• Get tax help using TTY/TDD equipment
  Call 1-800-829-4059 to ask tax questions or to order tax forms and publications.
• Access TeleTax topics
  Call 1-800-829-4477 to listen to pre-recorded messages covering various tax topics.
• Get tax refund information
  To check the status of your tax refund call 1-800-829-1954 or 1-800-829-4477.
• Find out the status of other refunds
  Call 1-800-829-1040 to check the status of a prior-year refund or amended tax refund.

Walk-in

You can walk in to your local Taxpayer Assistance Center every business day for expert tax help. No appointment is necessary.

Mail

You can send your order for forms, instructions, and publications to the address below. You should receive a response within 10 days after your request is received.

Internal Revenue Service
1201 N. Mitsubishi Motorway
Bloomington, IL 61705-6613

DVD For Tax Products

You can order Publication 1796, IRS Tax Products DVD, and obtain:

• Current-year forms, instructions, and publications.
• Prior-year forms, instructions, and publications.
• Tax Map: an electronic research tool and finding aid.
• Tax law frequently asked questions. 2011.
• Tax Topics from the IRS telephone response system.
• Internal Revenue Code—Title 26 of the U.S. Code.
• Fill-in, print, and save features for most tax forms.
• Internal Revenue Bulletins.
• Toll-free and email technical support.
• Two releases during the year.
  The first release will ship the beginning of January 2011.
  The final release will ship the beginning of March 2011.

Purchase the DVD from National Technical Information Service (NTIS) at ww.irs.gov/cdorders for $30 (no handling fee) or call 1-877-233-6767 toll free to buy the DVD for $30 (plus a $6 handling fee).

source: irs.gov

The Internal Revenue Service is going after tax return preparers who prepared returns in 2011 but failed to comply with the new federal tax preparer registration program.

Last year, the IRS initiated the Preparer Tax Identification Registration program to oversee the tax return preparation industry and regulate the conduct of tax return preparers. The program requires all paid tax return preparers to obtain a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). Preparers will be required to sign their names and include their PTINS on the returns and refund claims they prepare.

Earlier this month, the IRS began sending letters to approximately 100,000 income tax return preparers who failed to comply with the new IRS mandate.  The IRS notices explain the program, how to register for, or renew a PTIN, and where to get assistance.

“The vast majority of federal tax return preparers complied with the rules. Obviously, some preparers did not get the word, so these letters provide additional information so they can register as soon as possible,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “We owe it to the compliant tax preparers to make sure that everyone is on a level playing field.”

Since last fall, over 700,000 tax preparers have registered and obtained PTINs. Paid preparers who are not tax attorneys, Certified Public Accountants or Enrolled Agents are required to pass a competency exam and suitability check, and complete  15 hours of continuing education credits annually.

Some unscrupulous preparers may attempt to elude the new oversight program by not signing returns they prepare. Taxpayers should never use tax return preparers who refuse to sign returns and enter PTINs.

In an effort to identify these “ghost preparers,” the IRS later this year also will send letters to taxpayers who appear to have had assistance with their returns but lack tax return preparer signatures. The letter will inform taxpayers how to file a complaint against preparers who failed to sign returns and explain how to choose legitimate tax preparers. The goal of the letters is to protect taxpayers by ensuring that all paid federal tax return preparers are registered with the IRS, and sign tax returns they prepare and use an identifying number when required to do so.

Compliance is a central part of the new tax return preparer initiative and the letters are one step in an ongoing compliance effort to ensure tax return preparers are following the new regulations. The IRS also is working to identify tax return preparers who make repeated errors and IRS personnel have had face-to-face meetings with thousands of these tax return preparers over the past two years.

The IRS and taxpayers who use paid tax preparers will benefit from this initiative. Visit the IRS website for more info on the PTINs program.

source: irs.gov

The Internal Revenue offers tax help with it’s online tool designed to answer your tax questions. The Interactive Tax Assistant (ITA) is a tax law resource that takes you through a series of questions and provides you with responses to tax law questions.

You have three options to get your tax questions answered using the tool. You can (1) enter your search term or tax question in the ITA Search Box (2) select the Popular Topics link or (3) select Category. Next, simply answer the questions and follow the directions to progress throughout the interview.

Be advised you will need to gather your tax information such as income amounts, taxes owed and credit you’re claiming. However, the tax assistant tool does not require sensitive personal information such as your Social Security Number.

The tax help provided by the ITA tool covers a limited number of topics. If the tool does not cover your search term or tax question, you MAY be sent to the IRS’s tax trails application or the IRS’s query results page.

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