Sunday, January 30, 2011

IRS blunder: Hard to find HARD COPY of forms and directions

Sometimes I wonder about where the Government comes up with some of their ideas.

Case in Point, The 'TAX PACKAGE' that Uncle Sam religiously sent to you every year though the mail. In 2010, THIS IS NO LONGER THE CASE!

I guess I'm old fashion in that I like a hard copy of what I fill out and want the copy of the 176 page directions in my hands. Well, not any more.

Post offices are supposed to have the hard copies on hand or at least, that's what I was told when I called the IRS.

After going to 2 smaller post offices in my city I thought, I'll go to the main one. There, I asked the man at the window if he could give me a copy of the IRS TAX PACKAGE. He scratched his head and told me WHY are you looking for them here. I then asked him to check in the back or with a superior. After some consultations on the side with 2 different individuals, he came back and told me, 'They didn't have any".

Well, here I am and I DON'T GET IT!. The forms or the rationale for not sending them any more through the mail to tax payers.

I know what the Government is trying to do, they are trying to FORCE people to do all the filing on-line. I refuse to file on-line. I believe something as important and as personal as this should not be floating around over the internet.

Is this NEW POLICY supposed to encourage people to file their taxes? I don't think so. Not if they have to play detective, to track them down.

8 comments:

kelly said...

I was wondering why my Tax forms hadn't arrived yet. I thought that they may have been mailed late. I guess not.

phil said...

I always do mine using Turbo Tax. For me, it's a lot easier to have the software do all the work.

Saying that, I don't think the IRS should intentionally make t difficult for those to do it the old fashion way.

BOSMAN said...

Rev,

You sound PISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSED!

ConMan said...

I'm with Rev on this. I to do my taxes myself by hand. If they are going cold turkey on mailing these forms and materials to us, they need to make sure they are readily available in several locations. Then, make sure they are there.

Granny T said...

I usually do both. I like having the instructions and forms to use to get a rough idea. Then I use a tax program to see if I calculated things correctly and file online for the quicker refund or file by mail if I have to pay in. I used to purchase Turbo Tax but have since been using the free program online available from the irs site. FYI: I usually find the instruction books at the public library if the Post Office doesn't have them. Haven't gone looking yet this year though. They have forms and instructions available online at http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html?portlet=3 if you can't find a hard copy.

Ann said...

I didn't realize they weren't sending them this year. I guess I'll have to track them down as well.

Anonymous said...

Typical... People scream about govt spending and then b*tch when they have to adapt to new money-saving processes. The information is online; welcome to the digital age.

Anonymous said...

bbI refuse to file on line they better have paper or they wont get my return