The IRS has caught Internet fever. The Service maintains simple and helpful Websites that guide taxpayers through the preparation and filing process, as well as offering forms, instructions, contact numbers and articles.

There’s nothing sacred about IRS forms and publications. The Internal Revenue Service Retrieve Forms Page (http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/forms.html) contains a comprehensive list of current IRS forms in formats that you can download to your computer and print on a laser printer. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service Retrieve Publications Page (http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/pubs.html) contains a comprehensive list of current IRS publications.

No pilgrimage to a Post Office, an IRS office, or a library is necessary to get them. They are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year online. They never run out.

IRS publications and forms are in electronic file formats that allow documents to be printed identical to the pre-printed IRS forms. With minimum hardware and a few shareware programs, you can print documents that retain graphics, shading, images and layout.

Shareware programs are sometimes needed for two purposes:

(1) to decompress (or unzip) a file, and/or

Note: The download file containing a form might be compressed, in this event you’ll need to use one of the decompression programs that are readily available as shareware programs.

(2) to view a file on your computer.

Note: An uncompressed file needs a viewer or utility to print it retaining graphics and layout. The viewer and utility required depends on the file format.

Tax forms are available in the following formats:

(1) PCL (Printer Command Language) files requiring a Hewlett-Packard or compatible laser printer and a DOS or Windows system,

(2) .PDF (Portable Document Format) files requiring the Adobe Acrobat Reader software, which is available for Mac, DOS, Windows and Unix Systems,

Note: Adobe developed a universal file format for Mac, DOS, Windows, and Unix machines, and dalled "PDF" (for Adobe Potable Document Format). To read and print forms in .PDF format, you’ll need first to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader to your hard drive after you choose the applicable operating system software. This is not overly difficult to accomplish. The Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from several sites online and it’s always free. In fact, the Acrobate Reader is as easy to use as it is to find. Just open the application and then open the file, as you would open a text file with a word processor. The .PDF format is quickly becoming the accepted format for the electronic versions of IRS forms and publications.

(3) .PS (PostCript) files requiring a PostScript interpreter and a laser printer or other high-end output devise, available on many different computer platforms, and

Note: Like .PDF files, PostScript files maintain design and graphic look. However, you must have a laser printer or high-end device that can interpret PostScript files. In addition, you’ll need a utility to download the file to the printer.

(4) .SGML (Standard Generalized Parkup Language) files requiring an .SGML browser.

The .PDF Adobe format is the most popular and the one I recommend you download. Next, assuming you’ve managed to put Adobe on your hard drive, you should first select the form or instruction you want. Your browser may initially tell you that no viewer has been configured to view the material you’ve chosen. If you are using Netscape, however, you can click on the "browse" button and then find and run the "acroread" file on your hard drive (the c: drive on my Windows program).

This having been done, you should then be able to read and print your form. The results - - in the form of laser-perfect forms and instructions - - are absolutely worth the effort. As a test, I asked for a PDF copy of the Federal estate tax return, Form 706 (290 Kb) and instructions (258 Kb). With a 28.8 modem, each of these took only about 2 1/2 minutes to obtain, and they printed flawlessly. The adobe software isn’t hard to use, and can also help you download copies of the Federal Register (see above) for current tax information.

The IRS’s home page, The Digital Daily (http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/cover.html), is excellent. This site contains, in addition to a spinning globe:

(1) Federal tax forms and publications,

(2) tax regulations,

(3) tax information for business and individuals, and

(4) a keyword searchable database of all site information.

One Size Fits All Sampler

If you would like to see a summary of all tax sites organized by category, a great site is Essential Links to Tax  ( http://www.el.com/elinks/taxes/    ). Categories of tax sites listed include:

(1) tax forms and instructions,  (2) tax assistance and information,   (3) state taxes,  (4) U.S. tax code

(5) international tax, (6) tax newsletters, (7) tax newsgroups   (8) tax software, and  (9) tax directories.

Bankruptcy Code   http://www.law.cornell.edu:80/uscode/11/
Bankruptcy Creditors’ Service, Inc.  http://bankrupt.com/
FindLaw - Laws: Bankruptcy Decisions                                http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/bankruptcy.html
The Bankruptcy Lawfinder  http://www.tiac.net/users/agin/blawfind.html

Court Related Web Site http://www.ncsc.dni.us/courts/sites/courts.htm
Federal Court Opinions - Georgetown  http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/Fed-Ct/
FindLaw: Cases and Codes http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/
FindLaw: Supreme Court Opinions http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html
Judicial TaxSites  Http://www2.best.com/%7Eftmexpat/html/taxsites/law-judi.html1#supreme-court
Meta Index - All in One Search  http://www.gsu.edu/~lawadmn/lawform.html
Supreme Court  http://www.ljextra.com/public/daily/ussup.html
Supreme Court Decisions  http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct.table.html
Supreme Court Head Notes  http://www.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/syllabi.pl
U.S. Court of Appeals - 9th Cir. http://www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Ct/ca09.html
U.S. Court of Appeals Decisions http://www.ljextra.com/courthouse/feddec.html
Appellate Counselors Home Page http://www.primenet.com/~crh4/
Cal Appellate Decisions (State/Fed) http://www.primenet.com/~crh4/#Newsletter
California Courts http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/index.htm
Trial Courts http://www.courtinfor.ca.gov/trialcourt/
The State Court Locator http://www.law.vill.edu/State-Ct/

U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act
http://www.fourmilab.ch/uscode/8use/8usc.htlm

Fedlaw http://www.legal.gsa.gov/

INDEX TO FORMS  http://www.gama.com/forms.htm
Forms - NestEgg  http://nestegg.iddis.com/irs/irsdown.html
IRS Forms Service   http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prd/forms_pubs/forms.html
Tax Forms  http://www.uni.edu/schmidt/forms.html

Financial Information Link Library  http://www.mbnet.mb.ca:80/~russell/
Retirement Worksheet  http://networth.galt.com/www/home/mutual/neuberger/retirement/rws2.html

Offers In Compromise & Other Tax Problems

Hobby Loss Audits - Horse Breeding http://www.horsetax.com/
IRS Offer In Compromise Tax Debt Settlement Program http://iready.com/oichelp/index.html
Mankus, Shramuk & Marchan, Ltd. HTTP://www.irstax.com/
Tax problems ? lien - levy - seizure - audit- appeal - offer in compromise http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/wellman/homepage.htm