Tax Time Cometh

It is time to start collecting all your tax information and thinking about that annual rite of tax preparation. Remember the days when the IRS actually sent all the forms you needed right to your mailbox? No more! 

As more people file electronically and as mailing forms becomes more expensive, neither the IRS nor the Wisconsin Revenue Service sends forms and instruction out to all citizens. But that does not mean you are off the hook as a taxpayer. It just means you will have to find another source for your forms and instruction books.

The takes part in a program to distribute free forms. They are starting to come in, although we have not received everything yet. The basic forms and the instructions books for the 1040A and the 1040EZ are currently available as are many individual forms including Schedule A, Schedule B and Schedule C. The IRS has indicated that Instructions for 1040 will be shipped to us at the end of January through mid-February.

The Wisconsin forms and instructions have arrived! This includes the Wisconsin Homestead Credit Schedules and Instructions as well as the Wisconsin Rent Certificate form that many of you have been waiting for.

If forms are not available, they can be accessed through www.irs.gov (not “.org”) for the Federal forms and www.revenue.wi.gov for Wisconsin forms. You may come to the North Shore Library to use one of our computers to print out the forms and instruction booklets you need. There is a 10-cent charge for each copy you make. 

Just because they have given you a couple of extra days to file this year, don't wait until the last minute to pick up the forms and instructions you need.