Will IRS make paper tax forms available?

[Wakefield1]

Tax forms: I remember the good old days when paper blank tax forms could be picked up from the Post Office or Library. I have been able in the past few years to order them online from the IRS and State tax authority. I just tried going to last year's bookmarked ordering pages and "page not found". With some searching on the State tax webpage I did find a telephone # for ordering State forms but so far no go on the Federal. I dread having to go to the Library and asking the library staff to help me print out the forms from the online .pdf files. I will probably do some more searching on the IRS site before I give up on finding the forms (by mail,I don't have a printer).
One hassle that shouldn't be in my opinion.

[xenial]

Are you looking for Forms and Publications by U.S. Mail?

[mpsz]

I would still expect you to be able to pick up paper forms like you've done in prior years... it's still early in the season so maybe they will be available in the coming weeks.

See https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/order-products to order online. This is my first time using the newly redesigned IRS site... I do not like it!

[kaneohe]

I remember the good old days when you could order them during Xmas break and they would be delivered in mid-Jan or so. The last few yrs when I order them the 1st wk in January, right after I give up hope and re-order them in late Feb, they get delivered in early March. Be interested to know how your experience is. For comparison, I order from one of the 2 states I need to file for and they were here 4 days later.

[Wakefield1]

Looks like I managed to place an order via Google: "order irs forms by mail"
last year's bookmark didn't work and I couldn't find "order by mail" in a few minutes of moving around on the IRS site but the Google item brought up an order page which I think are the links that xenial and mpsz found
_Bogleheads is the place with the hot information! Thank you.

[kaneohe]

1) irs.gov
2) forms/instructions (upper right hand side)
3) order forms/pubs (left hand side)
4) forms/pubs by US mail (see search box in middle of page)

[ralph124cf]

Most forms are available at my local library.

Ralph

[mouses]

I dread having to go to the Library and asking the library staff to help me print out the forms from the online .pdf files. I will probably do some more searching on the IRS site before I give up on finding the forms (by mail,I don't have a printer).

The main library in my town no longer stocks the paper forms, but it has several pcs and printers available, so people could use those to print the forms.

I don't know if this still exists, but you used to be able to order the forms over the phone via the main IRS phone number.

I also dislike the new IRS website. There seems to be some conspiracy afoot to redesign formerly workable websites into unusable messes designed to look like they're for preschoolers. I understand this format looks better on a smartphone.

While they're at it, they use faint thin type so the new websites are near to unreadable by anyone over fifty. Chrome's built in high contrast feature fixes that, but the facebook plugin is not very useful.

[euroswiss]

I remember the good old days when you could order them during Xmas break and they would be delivered in mid-Jan or so. The last few yrs when I order them the 1st wk in January, right after I give up hope and re-order them in late Feb, they get delivered in early March. Be interested to know how your experience is. For comparison, I order from one of the 2 states I need to file for and they were here 4 days later.

I did order forms (online) over the Xmas holidays and they arrived Jan 6. They were NOT 1040s but 1099s (which cannot be printed from the website) but nevertheless, the process was quite efficient in this case.

[rkhusky]

It's not surprising that the paper forms aren't available yet, since the 2017 pdf's are just now showing up on the web site.

[euroswiss]

I also dislike the new IRS website. There seems to be some conspiracy afoot to redesign formerly workable websites into unusable messes designed to look like they're for preschoolers. I understand this format looks better on a smartphone.

While they're at it, they use faint thin type so the new websites are near to unreadable by anyone over fifty. Chrome's built in high contrast feature fixes that, but the facebook plugin is not very useful.

I'm not "anti-government" at all, but I have NEVER seen a decent website run by the Federal Government. They are ALWAYS outdated in their design and their functionality is completely non-intuitive. Search engines are sub-par. Social Security, Treasury Direct, ADA, INS (Passports). Doesn't matter what it is - they always feel like they are 10-20 years out of date and in desperate need of updating. My wife used to work for the Dept of Agriculture and she assures me that the same is true for any of their internal websites and databases as well. Apparently, it is just very hard to keep up to date with this stuff.

[Epsilon Delta]

I dread having to go to the Library and asking the library staff to help me print out the forms from the online .pdf files.

My local library still (well as of 2017, have not checked in 2018) keeps a binder with master copies of most forms that can be photocopied.
Might be worth asking at the reference desk if you prefer a photocopier to a PC. Although the librarian did watch me like a hawk while I made copies -- apparently scurvy knaves had stolen some of her masters.

[Swimmer]

From irs.gov I was able to get 2017 Form 1040, Sch. A, Sch. D. Still no 2017 Forms 8606 online.

Sch. A and D were available about a week before 1040.

Maybe it’s me but it seems weird that they are being posted piecemeal. I’ve not seen this in previous years. There’s no explanation/apology on the site.

[Swimmer]

Forgot to add: they will begin accepting returns January 23. What’s up with that? Why not as soon as the taxpayer has his return ready?

[sport]

I also dislike the new IRS website. There seems to be some conspiracy afoot to redesign formerly workable websites into unusable messes designed to look like they're for preschoolers. I understand this format looks better on a smartphone.

While they're at it, they use faint thin type so the new websites are near to unreadable by anyone over fifty. Chrome's built in high contrast feature fixes that, but the facebook plugin is not very useful.

I'm not "anti-government" at all, but I have NEVER seen a decent website run by the Federal Government. They are ALWAYS outdated in their design and their functionality is completely non-intuitive. Search engines are sub-par. Social Security, Treasury Direct, ADA, INS (Passports). Doesn't matter what it is - they always feel like they are 10-20 years out of date and in desperate need of updating. My wife used to work for the Dept of Agriculture and she assures me that the same is true for any of their internal websites and databases as well. Apparently, it is just very hard to keep up to date with this stuff.

Unlike a profit making business, the Feds are not concerned that you will take your business elsewhere.

[Mike Scott]

Forgot to add: they will begin accepting returns January 23. What’s up with that? Why not as soon as the taxpayer has his return ready?

Why would they begin accepting returns when they know that their forms are not all updated yet?

[kaneohe]

I remember the good old days when you could order them during Xmas break and they would be delivered in mid-Jan or so. The last few yrs when I order them the 1st wk in January, right after I give up hope and re-order them in late Feb, they get delivered in early March. Be interested to know how your experience is. For comparison, I order from one of the 2 states I need to file for and they were here 4 days later.

I did order forms (online) over the Xmas holidays and they arrived Jan 6. They were NOT 1040s but 1099s (which cannot be printed from the website) but nevertheless, the process was quite efficient in this case.

My theory is that there is limited manpower so they are prioritizing........forgot that I also ordered 1040-ES to be used in coming yr......but what I received very quickly was 2017 versions (not what I was looking for) but those should have been available since March 2017 just like the other forms that came for me in March to be used for the April 2017 filing of 2016 taxes. Perhaps they prioritize 1099s so that they can be filled and sent to taxpayers in time for the filing season .....so perhaps they have been sitting on the shelf waiting for some time.

[Swimmer]

Forgot to add: they will begin accepting returns January 23. What’s up with that? Why not as soon as the taxpayer has his return ready?

Why would they begin accepting returns when they know that their forms are not all updated yet?

I know. Right? If I ran the IRS I’d have all forms available immediately after January 1. They have a year to get them ready.

[Mike Scott]

Forgot to add: they will begin accepting returns January 23. What’s up with that? Why not as soon as the taxpayer has his return ready?

Why would they begin accepting returns when they know that their forms are not all updated yet?

I know. Right? If I ran the IRS I’d have all forms available immediately after January 1. They have a year to get them ready.

Considering all the recent fuss and confusion up to almost the end of the year (including some possible retroactive changes), how would the IRS know what to finalize?

[sailaway]

Tax forms: I remember the good old days when paper blank tax forms could be picked up from the Post Office or Library. I have been able in the past few years to order them online from the IRS and State tax authority. I just tried going to last year's bookmarked ordering pages and "page not found". With some searching on the State tax webpage I did find a telephone # for ordering State forms but so far no go on the Federal. I dread having to go to the Library and asking the library staff to help me print out the forms from the online .pdf files. I will probably do some more searching on the IRS site before I give up on finding the forms (by mail,I don't have a printer).
One hassle that shouldn't be in my opinion.

Have you talked to your local librarian?
-It is likely that they would need to order the forms. If you belonged to a community group that preferred paper forms, you may have some clout in convincing the librarian to order them next year. Most stopped ordering them because people weren't using them.
-The research librarian may be willing to print out the forms for you. This is what they are there for, why would you dread using resources that your taxes are already paying for?

[mouses]

I also dislike the new IRS website. There seems to be some conspiracy afoot to redesign formerly workable websites into unusable messes designed to look like they're for preschoolers. I understand this format looks better on a smartphone.

While they're at it, they use faint thin type so the new websites are near to unreadable by anyone over fifty. Chrome's built in high contrast feature fixes that, but the facebook plugin is not very useful.

I'm not "anti-government" at all, but I have NEVER seen a decent website run by the Federal Government. They are ALWAYS outdated in their design and their functionality is completely non-intuitive. Search engines are sub-par. Social Security, Treasury Direct, ADA, INS (Passports). Doesn't matter what it is - they always feel like they are 10-20 years out of date and in desperate need of updating. My wife used to work for the Dept of Agriculture and she assures me that the same is true for any of their internal websites and databases as well. Apparently, it is just very hard to keep up to date with this stuff.

Unlike a profit making business, the Feds are not concerned that you will take your business elsewhere.

This change isn't exclusive to the feds. In the last few months CapitalOne and one of the credit unions I have accounts at have both wrecked their websites by making them smart phone friendly and unfriendly to pcs and older users.

[GerryL]

Forgot to add: they will begin accepting returns January 23. What’s up with that? Why not as soon as the taxpayer has his return ready?

Actually, it's been moved out to Jan 29. See https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/2018-tax-f ... -taxpayers

The IRS will begin accepting tax returns on Jan. 29, with nearly 155 million individual tax returns expected to be filed in 2018.
...
Many software companies and tax professionals will be accepting tax returns before Jan. 29 and then will submit the returns when IRS systems open. Although the IRS will begin accepting both electronic and paper tax returns Jan. 29, paper returns will begin processing later in mid-February as system updates continue.

[AAA]

I'm not "anti-government" at all, but I have NEVER seen a decent website run by the Federal Government. They are ALWAYS outdated in their design and their functionality is completely non-intuitive.

It could be in part because the agency in question is not well funded.

[mouses]

I'm not "anti-government" at all, but I have NEVER seen a decent website run by the Federal Government. They are ALWAYS outdated in their design and their functionality is completely non-intuitive.

It could be in part because the agency in question is not well funded.

Yes, the IRS is in that boat. The Post Office is severely impacted by government requirements that drain its budget unnecessarily.