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.

This section describes several ways you can get free tax help from the IRS and from community volunteers (during the regular filing season).

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.

Personal computer. With your personal computer and modem, you can access the IRS on the Internet at www.irs.ustreas.gov. While visiting our Web Site, you can select:

• Frequently Asked Tax Questions to find answers to questions you may have.
• Fill-in Forms to complete tax forms on-line.
• Forms and Publications to download forms and publications or search publications by topic or keyword.
• Comments & Help to e-mail us with comments about the site or with tax questions.
• Digital Dispatch and IRS Local News Net to receive our electronic newsletters on hot tax issues and news.

You can also reach us with your computer using any of the following.

• Telnet at iris.irs.ustreas.gov
• File Transfer Protocol at ftp.irs.ustreas.gov
• Direct dial (by modem) 703-321-8020

TaxFax Service. Using the phone attached to your fax machine, you can receive forms, instructions, and tax information 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.

Phone. Many services are available by phone.
  

• Ordering forms, instructions, and publications. Call 1-800-TAX-FORM (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. You can also check on the status of your 1998 refund using TeleTax's Refund Information service.

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.

Walk-in. You can pick up certain forms, instructions, and publications at many post offices, libraries, and IRS offices. Some libraries and IRS offices have an extensive collection of products available to print from a CD-ROM or photocopy from reproducible proofs.

Mail. You can send your order for forms, instructions, and publications to the Distribution Center nearest to you and receive a response 7 to 15 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

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, instructions, and publications.
• Popular tax forms which 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) for $25.00 by calling 1-877-233-6767 or for $18.00 on the Internet at www.irs.gov/cdorders. The first release is available in mid-December and the final release is available in late January.

Written tax questions. You can send your written tax questions to your IRS District Director. You should get an answer in about 30 days. If you do not have the address, you can get it by calling 1-800-829-1040. (Do not send tax questions with your return.)

Braille tax materials. Braille tax materials are available for review from Regional Libraries for the Visually Impaired in conjunction with the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. To locate your nearest library, write to:
National Library Service for
  the Blind and Physically
  Handicapped
Library of Congress
1291 Taylor St., NW
Washington, DC 20542

Braille materials currently available for review include this publication, Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business, and Forms 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ and their instructions.

Assistance with your return. Assistors are available in many IRS offices throughout the country to help you prepare your own return. To find the location of the IRS office nearest you, look in the phone book under "United States Government, Internal Revenue Service" or call 1-800-829-1040. If you want help with your tax return, you should bring in your tax package, Forms W-2 and 1099, and any other information (such as a copy of last year's return) that will help the assistor to help you.

At all IRS offices you can also get tax forms, publications, and help with questions about IRS notices or bills.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE). Free help from volunteers is available in most communities. After completing IRS training, these volunteers help prepare basic tax returns for taxpayers with special needs, including low-income people, persons with disabilities, the elderly, and non-English-speaking people. At some of these offices, you can file your tax return electronically. See IRS e-file in chapter 1 for information on electronic filing.

Call the IRS for the location of the volunteer assistance site near you. Or, for the location of an American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Tax-Aide site in your community, call 1-888-AARPNOW or visit their Internet Web Site at www.aarp.org/taxaide/home.htm.

Help with unresolved tax issues. Most problems can be solved with one contact by calling, writing, or visiting an IRS office. But if you have tried unsuccessfully to resolve a problem with the IRS, you should contact the Taxpayer Advocate's Problem Resolution Program (PRP). Someone at PRP will assign you a personal advocate who is in the best position to try to resolve your problem. The Taxpayer Advocate can also offer you special help if you have a significant hardship as a result of a tax problem.

You should contact the Taxpayer Advocate if:

• You have tried unsuccessfully to resolve your problem with the IRS and have not been contacted by the date promised, or
• You are on your second attempt to resolve a problem.

You may contact a Taxpayer Advocate by calling a new assistance number, 1-877- 777-4778. Persons who have access to TTY/TDD equipment can call 1-800-829-4059 and ask for the Taxpayer Advocate. If you prefer, you can write to the Taxpayer Advocate at the office that last contacted you.

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. Taxpayer Advocates are working to put service first. For more information about PRP, get Publication 1546, The Problem Resolution Program of the Internal Revenue Service.

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