Ah, spring! When a young woman’s thoughts turn lightly to thoughts of piles of receipts and forms to fill out to convince the government that yes, we really did pay our share of the government’s expenses last year. Okay, maybe not so lightly.
I was annoyed when I received the postcard from the IRS saying they weren’t sending forms this year. Our post office doesn’t have them. I didn’t see them at the library. That means downloading them and printing them (No, I’m not doing e-file). I can do that — I’ve often done it for worksheets and forms that weren’t included in the booklet anyway. It’s just annoying, increases the amount of time and energy I have to spend, and makes finding the appropriate instructions, tax tables, etc., frustrating. I like being able to flip through the pages. I like being able to fold pages in half so I can reference pages in two different sections of the book. I like having the paper there as reference when I need it.
In my opinion, a better way for them to have handled it would have been to provide the option to order the booklet sent.
Ah, well. Can’t expect them to actually be helpful, can I? This is the IRS — after all, butt of fear, loathing, and jokes across the country. Okay, back to work on the forms. *sigh*
I, too, was annoyed about them not mailing the instructions this year. Printing the forms was no big deal — I usually have to print about half of what I need anyway, because they never sent them. I refuse to e-file (especially as long as they’re charging for the privilege). But the instructions, yes, I put them on the iPad, and it worked, but I had to scribble the worksheet answers onto scrap paper, and flipping the pages isn’t quite the same.
I mailed ours on Saturday — 61 cents postage, thank you.
I mail them at the post office counter, save the receipt, and count it as “tax preparation expense” when I’m itemizing for Schedule A. Sure, 61 cents isn’t a lot, but every bit counts.
They used to let you order the ‘booklet’. Maybe that’s been about 4-5 years. A friend did them for me those years, but have to have a CPA this year. He will do them for me next year. I mail them.
Maybe ordering it is still an option. I didn’t look very hard. I just wanted it sent to me. 😛
That is very annoying. How do you know if you have everything that way? #IRSfail
Well, to be fair, the booklet never included everything, anyway — just the main form and the most commonly used schedules. I almost always had to download something anyway. However, the paper booklet did generally give information about what additional forms and schedules might be needed — information that’s now only in the PDF. *sigh*