Publication 510 (6/2006), Excise Taxes for 2006

15. How To Get Tax Help

This is archived information that pertains only to the 2006 Tax Year. If you
are looking for information for the current tax year, go to the Tax Prep Help Area.

Table of Contents

You can get help with unresolved tax issues, 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.

Contacting your Taxpayer Advocate. If you have attempted to deal with an IRS problem unsuccessfully, you should contact your Taxpayer Advocate.

The Taxpayer Advocate independently represents your interests and concerns within the IRS by protecting your rights and resolving problems that have not been fixed through normal channels. 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.

To contact your Taxpayer Advocate:

Call the Taxpayer Advocate toll free at
1-877-777-4778.
Call, write, or fax the Taxpayer Advocate office in your area.
Call 1-800-829-4059 if you are a
TTY/TDD user.
Visit the website at www.irs.gov/advocate.

For more information, see Publication 1546, The Taxpayer Advocate Service of the IRS.

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.

Internet. You can access the IRS website 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at www.irs.gov to:

Download forms, instructions, and publications.
Order IRS products online.
See answers to frequently asked tax questions.
Search publications online by topic or keyword.
Send us comments or request help by email.
Sign up to receive local and national tax news by email.
Get information on starting and operating a small business.

Phone. Many services are available by phone.

Ordering forms, instructions, and publications. Call 1-800-829-3676 to order current-year forms, instructions, and publications and prior-year forms and instructions. You should receive your order within 10 days.
Asking tax questions. Call the IRS with your tax questions at 1-800-829-4933. For questions on Form 2290, call the Form 2290 call site at 1-866-699-4096 (toll free) from the United States and 1-859-669-5733 (not toll free) from Canada and Mexico. The hours of service are 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., EST.
Solving problems. You can get face-to-face help solving tax problems every business day in IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers. An employee can explain IRS letters, request adjustments to your account, or help you set up a payment plan. Call your local Taxpayer Assistance Center for an appointment. To find the number, go to www.irs.gov or look in the phone book under “United States Government, Internal Revenue Service.”
TTY/TDD equipment. If you have access to TTY/TDD equipment, call 1-800-829-4059 to ask tax or account questions or to order forms and publications.

Evaluating the quality of our telephone services. To ensure that IRS representatives give accurate, courteous, and professional answers, we use several methods to evaluate the quality of our telephone services. One method is for a second IRS representative to sometimes listen in on or record telephone calls. Another is to ask some callers to complete a short survey at the end of the call.

Walk-in. Many products and services are available on a walk-in basis.

Products. You can walk in to many post offices, libraries, and IRS offices to pick up certain forms, instructions, and publications. Some IRS offices, libraries, grocery stores, copy centers, city and county government offices, credit unions, and office supply stores have a collection of products available to print from a CD or photocopy from reproducible proofs. Also, some IRS offices and libraries have the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, Internal Revenue Bulletins, and Cumulative Bulletins available for research purposes.
Services. You can walk in to your local Taxpayer Assistance Center every business day to ask tax questions or get help with a tax problem. An employee can explain IRS letters, request adjustments to your account, or help you set up a payment plan. You can set up an appointment by calling your local Center and, at the prompt, leaving a message requesting face-to-face tax help. A representative will call you back within 2 business days to schedule an in-person appointment at your convenience. To find the number, go to www.irs.gov or look in the phone book under “United States Government, Internal Revenue Service.”

Mail. You can send your order for forms, instructions, and publications to the National Distribution Center and receive a response within 10 workdays after your request is received. Use the address below.

National Distribution Center
P.O. Box 8903
Bloomington, IL 61702-8903

IRS tax products CD. You can order IRS Publication 1796, IRS Tax Products CD, and obtain:

Current-year forms, instructions, and publications.
Prior-year forms, instructions, and publications.
Bonus: Historical Tax Products DVD; ships with the final release.
Tax Map: An electronic research tool and finding aid.
Fill-in, print, and save features for most tax forms.
Internal Revenue Bulletins.
Toll-free email and technical support.

Purchase the CD from National Technical Information Service (NTIS) on the Internet at www.irs.gov/cdorders for $25 (no handling fee) or call 1-877-CDFORMS (1-877-233-6767) toll free to buy the CD for $25 (plus a $5 handling fee). The price is subject to change. The first release is available in the beginning of January and the final release is available in the beginning of March.

CD for small businesses. IRS Publication 3207, Small Business Resource Guide, is a must for every small business owner or any taxpayer about to start a business. This handy, interactive CD contains all the business tax forms, instructions, and publications needed to successfully manage a business. In addition, the CD provides an abundance of other helpful information, such as how to prepare a business plan, finding financing for your business, and much more. The design of the CD makes finding information easy and quick and incorporates file formats and browsers that can be run on virtually any desktop or laptop computer. It is available in early April. You can get a free copy by calling 1-800-829-3676 or by visiting the website at www.irs.gov/businesses/small and clicking on the link for Small Business Products.