Ignoring The IRS (and the 5 best ways to contact them!)

We all love to criticize the IRS, don't we? And I'm just as guilty as anyone. It's easy to ridicule a huge organization of government bureaucrats who often seem to be Public Enemy #1. Our negative attitude toward the IRS can lead to a strong desire to just ignore it altogether. But self-employed people who ignore the IRS do so at their own peril. So when it comes to providing free information about taxes, let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. The IRS does provide some excellent resources to help us make the best of a potentially bad situation. If you need tax assistance and prefer not to pay for it, do not overlook these five ways to obtain help from the IRS: 1. The Internet http://www.irs.gov/smallbiz Here you'll find everything from how to obtain a federal business tax ID to a free 6-session streaming video presentation of the "IRS Small Business Workshop." Also known as the Small Business Self-Employed Online Classroom, you can access this directly at: www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99202,00.html Need tax forms and/or their instructions? Look no further than the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/lists/0,,id=97817,00.html The IRS has many free publications that explain virtually every major (and many minor) tax topics in great detail. Sure, IRS "pubs" are not always written in the most entertaining style, but, hey, remember the price. 5. Walk-In Offices. Need some face-to-face tax help? For a complete list of IRS offices in all 50 states, including hours of operation and contact info, check out: