Time Running Short to Get Tax Forms

WASHINGTON - Taxpayers who need tax forms or publications should act soon to request them, the Internal Revenue Service advised today -- the April 15 filing deadline is less than four weeks away. In addition to providing materials at its local offices, the IRS makes forms available by mail, computer, or fax.

Taxpayers should allow up to 15 workdays for telephone orders to be processed. The IRS forms line -- 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676) -- is open from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

In addition to their usual weekday business hours, over 150 local IRS offices will be open Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. until mid-April. Taxpayers may pick up forms or publications, or meet with IRS assistors for answers to their tax questions.

Computer and fax machine users can get tax materials 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The IRS Web site -- www.irs.ustreas.gov- has forms and publications available for downloading. IRS TaxFax -- at 703-368-9694 -- offers 144 forms and instructions by return fax. Users may find the order numbers in the tax instruction booklet, or may have the system fax a list of available items.

Many banks, post offices and public libraries also stock some of the common tax forms. Libraries may also have reproducible forms for photocopying, along with a reference set of IRS tax information publications.

1998 FILING SEASON STATISTICS

Cumulative through the week ending 3/14/97 and 3/13/98

                          1997            1998      % Change

Individual Income Tax Returns (electronic and paper)
    Total Receipts      50,678,000     50,732,000        0.1
    Total Processed     38,249,000     41,142,000        7.6

E-filing -- Total Receipts:
    Standard E-file     11,570,000     14,199,000       22.7
    TeleFile             3,663,000      4,597,000       25.5

Refunds Certified by the Martinsburg Computing Center:
    Number              35,007,000      37,418,000       6.9
    Amount             $48.131 bil.    $53.048 bil.     10.2
    Average Refund        $1375              $1418       3.1

Direct Deposit Refunds:
    Number             11,825,000       13,628,000      15.2
    Amount           $21.947 bil.      $25.723 bil.     17.2

Previous | Next

1998 IRS News Releases | News Releases Main | Home