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Online
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s income tax time again and Uncle Sam is pressing more people to file their taxes electronically. The Internal Revenue Service sent 33 million taxpayers postcards with a special ID number they can use to “sign” their returns which are filed online. The IRS has made electronic filing easier in other ways; online returns don’t have to include W-2 forms and you can use a credit card to pay any balance due. Also all the software vendors have heeded Uncle
Sam’s plea for electronic filing of tax returns. For free they will zap
your return through Cyberspace directly to the IRS, which is hoping 33.5
million returns will be filed electronically.
And for journalists and researchers preparing income tax articles, the Internet remains the best single source of tax information and guidance. The Internal Revenue Service has an excellent website which is a logical starting point for such work. The IRS expects to receive 127 million federal tax returns this year and its Internet site is taxpayer friendly. It’s always tough to get through on the toll-free
IRS phone line to ask questions, even though the agency has increased its
hours of operation. But it is easy to connect with the IRS Internet site
at:
There’s a graphics version of the site, but also one in plain text which Netsurfers are automatically directed to during peak usage periods. The IRS home page is formatted like a newspaper with timely articles which frequently change. But the heart of the site consists of links to specific areas of taxpayer interest. One link is entitled “Tax Info For You”, while another is labeled “Tax Info For Business”. Help with specific problems can be obtained in the section called “Taxpayer Help & Education”. You can use another link to download a form you need to complete your return. And the “IRS Newsstand” has recent news releases from the agency. Our favorite section on the IRS site is called “Tax Regulations In English”.
It’s a worthy effort to put bureaucratic language into readable form, and
especially helpful for those who want to know about new tax rules.
While complete and easy to navigate, the IRS site is not the only first-rate income tax site on the World Wide Web. There are dozens of others, and in this article The Internet Newsroom will identify some we think are most useful to journalists and other information professionals. Like fine wine, some Internet sites improve with age and that certainly
is the case with “Tax Resources” created by Frank McNeil, of San Francisco,
an enrolled tax agent who pioneered in posting income tax information in
Cyberspace. We first encountered his comprehensive site in 1995, well before
the Web caused an explosive increase in Internet traffic. The address today
is:
It is mainly a collection of links to other tax resources on the Web, with candid comments by McNeil. At his location you can get federal and state income tax forms, find newsgroups and newsletters about taxes, examine “gateway” sites which themselves link to numerous tax resources, and even find out about foreign taxes. One of the most helpful sections of this site is called “What Happened” and consists of a hyperlinked list of Internet sites that McNeil uses to keep abreast of developments in the tax field. There are sites to check daily, such as Tax Alerts by the Ernst & Young accounting firm and the weekly Tax News & Views site by Deloitte & Touche. A new comprehensive income tax resource has been posted by “Essential
Links” which has gathered in one place many dozens of tax links. These
include major tax sites, specialized sites where you can download federal
and state tax forms, locations concerned with tax law and the tax code
and links to major accounting firms which host their own tax guides.
The IRS, which received 30 million electronic tax returns last year
and hopes to boost that number to 33.6 million this year because it is
easier and more accurate to process them, is getting full cooperation from
vendors of tax software.
TurboTax is the leading tax software program, which can be purchased in stores for $25 to $50 depending on configuration and features. But the upper right hand corner of the page has a label named “TurboTax for the Web” which, when clicked, leads to the company’s new online tax preparation software. It is very comprehensive and inexpensive; $9.95 for the complete program, including the appropriate state program and free electronic filing. If all you need is a simple 1040EZ form, there is no charge to use the Online TurboTax program The TaxCut site also has all kinds of information for people who have
purchased the disc-based version of TaxCut, whose prices are about the
same as those of TurboTax. On the left side of the home page is a graphic
which takes you to their online version. The price is $9.95 and the features
are the same as those offered by TurboTax.
There are several other online tax preparation and filing programs by
lesser-known vendors. One of them is offered by the H.D. Vest accounting
firm at this address:
What makes this program different is that it is free, for both the federal and state return, regardless of income level, with hopes of generating business for other financial services offered by the company. Customers answer a series of questions to complete a return. Once the return is finished customers get an E-Mail from H.D. Vest pitching their other financial services. There are numerous Internet locations where tax guides and good advice
can be obtained. One is the Motley Fool, the off-beat investment site,
which has a comprehensive tax guide here:
Several of the major accounting firms have posted excellent tax pages,
including Deloitte & Touche which has put its entire tax planning guide
on the Web. It includes tips for everyone, tips for high income individuals,
tips for the self-employed and more. There is also a section on tax planning
for 2000. The address:
The accounting firm Ernst & Young also has a good site at:
If you want to peruse income tax history, and look at the tax returns
of the past several U.S. presidents, go here:
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