by Sarah Ellerman
I'm proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is -- I could be just as proud for half the money. -Arthur Godfrey
We noted in this month's Hyperlink of Internet Underground that T.S. Eliot was right: April really
is the cruelest month. We've been pretty busy here in our office, trying to get another issue out to the
printer as well as pull our dreaded taxes together. Should we take a long lunch, disappear for a few hours
and dump the whole mess in some poor accountant's lap? Or should we save our hard-earned money and
ink in all that info by ourselves? Truly, both options are terrifying. We sweat over those 1099s and wish
there was an easier way. Flip your modem on and let IU show you what tax resources (and tax
evasions) are available online. Nothing can make us actually enjoy taxtime, but these (sometimes
subversive) resources will make it all a little easier.
"I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. ... If a plant cannot live according to its nature, it dies; and so a man." --Henry David Thoreau. Karl Kleinpaste has created this phenomenal page which asserts the fundamental unconstitutionality of the federal income tax and the invalidity of the Internal Revenue Service. He has put together a very rational, well-cited and convincing argument for his theory, which is illustrated by relevant sections of the law and by the transcriptions of his extensive correspondence with the IRS. The correspondence is simple: Karl politely asks for a few simple answers about the IRS' jurisdiction; the IRS appears unable to answer this, as it would admit their invalidity as a tax-collecting agency, and chooses to respond with fear tactics and incompetence. Read Karl's manifesto on the proper and intended role of the American government; if this doesn't wake you up, then nothing will.
Fed Up With the Legal System: Get a Consumer
Voice in the IRS
"Few things fill us with greater dread than receiving an envelope bearing the return address of the
Internal Revenue Service. There is increasing cause for alarm. The powerful IRS, best-known for its
doggedness, is increasingly wrong in its tax bills and assessments. And it refuses to explain itself to the
taxpayers it holds accountable." This page claims that the IRS misinforms one out of four callers to
its information hotline, and that a Gallup poll found that "Of those who contested tax due notices sent by
the IRS, 45% reported the IRS claims were completely erroneous; an additional 24% said the agency was
partially wrong. Of those who challenged the IRS, 53% wound up paying nothing, and another 17% paid a
greatly reduced sum." This site is part of a larger effort entitled "Fed Up With the Legal System," which is
a call to arms and a formula for sanity for the legal business. It's full of suggestions for dealing with the
IRS and commends them for the initiation of their Problem Resolution Program, which aids taxpayers in
red-tape entanglements with the agency. This is the place to go when you're tearing your hair out and
wondering, "Can't anybody DO something about all this?"
"Greetings from the IRS means one thing: the ultimate curse of a civilized society. A tax audit." It's
universal; the word "audit" invariably induces a faint feeling and general queasiness. It ain't fun
accounting to the IRS, but there really is good news about it: if you can get your wits about you, educate
yourself about the audit process and stand up for yourself, more often than not you'll walk away the victor.
This site, presented by TurboTax tax preparation software, gives the straight dope on what they'll examine,
how to deal with error reimbursement, how to report employee misconduct, what penalties exist, measures
you can take to increase your psychological advantage, compromises, appeals and conflict resolution. The
good news here is that the agency is often wrong, and that you can often reduce or eliminate charges if you
stay calm and prepare your case properly.
Money Online's Flat Tax e-Valuator
Longing for simplicity and even-handedness? Here you'll get the dirt on the various flat tax proposals of Steve Forbes, Pat Buchanan and Rep. Dick Armey. Money Online's interactive flat tax calculator can't show you exactly what a flat tax might mean for the health of the nation, but it can tell you what it would mean for your personal finances. Plug in your annual income, number of dependents and filing status. The e-Valuator will compute your tax under each plan, and you can fiddle with it a little to fine-tune the details of investments and property holdings.
There's a great deal of controversy over the flat tax plans. No one really knows if they would be revenue-
neutral, if it will ease taxpayer burden in the appropriate sectors, and if anticipated revenues are realistic.
But at the very least, this primer will educate you in the different features of the various plans and allow
you to explore the possible alternate future of flat federal taxing.
Income Tax Information on the Internet
An excellent links list and resource page for every aspect of federal and state income taxes. You'll find tax articles from newspapers, law journals, and magazines, the code of tax-related law from the judicial, legislative and administrative branches of government, links to tax preparation software, notes of proposed changes to tax law,
Most helpful are the many links to different sites which provide state and federal forms. This site not only links ëem, it also gives detailed instructions on downloading them properly and connecting through different protocols. A great relief if you are having trouble with Adobe Acrobat or connecting to FedWorld through the FTP interface. You'll also find newsletters and mailing lists if you need a sympathetic shoulder to cry on.
"The complete Internal Revenue Code is more than 21 megabytes in length, and contains more than
2.8 million words; printed 60 lines to the page, it would fill almost 6000 letter-size pages. Looking for
something buried in that mass of verbiage can be daunting." That's why you need this helpful
electronic document, complete with a WAIS search engine. This site features the entire text of the United
States Tax Code online. This dense and enormous document is surprisingly easy to navigate because over
20,000 hyperlinks have been embedded in the Code to permit following cross-references between sections
with a simple mouse click. Sections are listed in a hierarchical table of contents, and also indexed by
section number which is useful when you need to look up a piece of code that is cited in another document.
Just the thing you need when in doubt about some troublesome section of our laws!
We all know that the Internal Revenue Service had some budget cutbacks this year, but even in the flushest of times, it developed some notoriety for not returning mail and telephone calls in a timely fashion. The IRS' online service, Digital Daily, allows citizens instantaneous access to federal tax information. Users can download over 600 forms and publications using Adobe Acrobat's PDF standard; the software is also provided for download. There's also info on where to file and an FAQ. Hey, this is already better than a trip to the local library.
It's not yet possible for users to go through the entire arduous filing process online, but wheels are already turning for this to become a reality. Taxpayers can already file online through an IRS-approved tax preparation software package, but it costs money -- around $40 for the software and another $17 as a filing fee. A list of approved software packages is available here. You can also find information about filing a 1040EZ form over the telephone here.
Digital Daily has gotten rave reviews and high hit counts -- about 600,000 hits a day, and a total of more than 12 million hits since its inception last year. We're happy that our tax dollars are doing something for us, for once...
We also suggest that you check out the Usenet newsgroups misc.taxes and misc.taxes.moderated for timely and personal debate, aid and camaraderie at this most trying time. We heard in misc.taxes that your dog chewing up the forms isn't a good excuse, or even grounds for an extension, so be good and good luck!
 
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