Off the Shelf: Tax Forms at the Library
By Sharon Saye on February 25, 2015
West Virginia libraries have made available both state and Federal tax forms that were provided to us by both those agencies for decades. This year that has changed. The IRS significantly limited income tax forms and instructions due to cuts in in the 2015 Omnibus Appropriations bill recently passed by Congress.
They are providing Forms 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ, but they are not providing any instruction booklets to go with each of the forms. They also provided copies of Publication 4604 “Use the Web for IRS Tax Products & Information.” They will also not provide any of the supplementary forms.
Their suggestion is to obtain your forms through IRS.gov/Forms to view or download or IRS.gov/orderforms to order tax products to be delivered by mail or 1-800-829-3676 to order tax products to be delivered by mail. Obtaining forms and instructions is the responsibility of each taxpayer.
Patrons are welcome to go to these websites on the library’s public access Internet computers and print the forms. The regular cost for printing is still in effect at 10 cents a page. Since the instructions alone for Form 1040 are over 100 pages expect it to take a little time and cost over $10.00.
There are instructions on your options available on the table near the front door as well as Forms 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ.
Many patrons are very upset about this, often verbally. I must point out that this is not the fault of the library staff so yelling at them or pointing your finger at them is counterproductive.
State forms which include instructions and the necessary forms and tax tables are freely available. They can be found on a table by the front door.
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