| REVIEWS
Cruising
Cyberspace
Web
Site Pick Of The Month
By Pam Wegmann
It’s tax time again.
If April 15 is creeping up on you faster than you anticipated, you can
find some help at
http://www.irs.gov
This is the home
of the Internal Revenue Service on the Web, not to be confused with the
U.S. Department of Treasury site at www.treas.gov, although each site does
links to the other.
The Digital Daily,
as the IRS calls its site, very much has a newspaper look. Like a newspaper,
it is laid out with a bold headline, with the lead story on the upper part
of the page to the right. Also, just like a newspaper, he lead story
carries a photo of some sort for human interest. Most recently, its
lead story was on the Child Tax Credit, with links to the information embedded
within the context of the story.
Down the left side
of the screen, there are a series of contextual links to a number of subjects.
It is interesting to note that the Service is continuing to work to improve
its reputation as three of the first seven links deal with subjects to
help ease your life in dealing with the IRS.
The very first link
will take you to information on how to navigate the IRS appeals system.
Further down, there is information for how the newly divorced individual
can avoid taking a tax hit based on the ex-spouse’s taxable income. It
refers to this as the Innocent Spouse Tax Relief Eligibility Explorer.
Just a little further
down, the Tax Advocate link gives information on how to resolve problems
not resolved through normal channels.
A new feature is
a treasure trove of information for the small business owner and self-employed
community. In fact, it’s not just tax-related information.
Clicking on that link will take you to a page where you can get tips and
information on starting a new business and lists of helpful resources.
It also does have tax related information. You can download forms.
There is a tax library with all kinds of tax related subjects, such as
valid small business deductions, and you can e-mail a request for information
on general tax law questions in case you can’t find what you are looking
for in the library.
Other links include
tax regulations written in plain English, contact information, job postings
in case you want to go work for the IRS, and tax forums for tax professionals.
At the very bottom,
there’s a curious link. “Preview new irs.gov” lets you take a look
at how the site will change in the near future. I think the new version
is even better than the current one.
This is a good site.
It qualifies on two important counts, ease of navigation and good content.
Check out this site as you prepare your filing. On the Web, the help
is there 24/7.
Knowledge is Power!
:-)
April 2001
Questions/Comments
can be sent to pam@info-matters.com
or faxed to 504.738.0016. You can also reach Ms. Wegmann at 504.738.0070.
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