Letter to John Koskinen, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue System - Provide Public Libraries with Tax Forms

Letter

February 11, 2015

The Honorable John Koskinen
Commissioner
Internal Revenue Service
U.S. Department of the Treasury
1111 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, DC 20224

Dear Commissioner Koskinen,

I am writing to express my concern with the IRS's recent decision to severely limit the distribution of tax forms and instruction booklets to public libraries through the Tax Forms Outlet Program (TFOP). I am particularly troubled that this decision was made a few weeks before the start of the tax filing season, after the IRS committed to waiting until 2016 to make changes to the TFOP program.

While I understand that the IRS has to make difficult budgeting decisions, this decision will place an undue burden on New Hampshire's low-income and elderly taxpayers. Although the IRS states that taxpayers may access tax forms online, several of the tax forms available on the IRS website indicate that the form is provided for informational purposes only, and that a penalty may be imposed for using a downloaded form. In addition, today I learned that our local IRS offices in Manchester, Nashua, and Portsmouth may not have tax forms available to taxpayers, either. I am very concerned that this will leave Granite Staters with no means to obtain the forms necessary to complete their tax returns.

With almost twenty percent of Granite Staters personally filing paper returns, I request that the IRS provide the necessary forms and instruction booklets to participating libraries and IRS offices in New Hampshire as soon as possible. The IRS has a responsibility to ensure that taxpayers have access to the forms necessary to complete their tax returns, and I urge the agency to take immediate action to correct this problem.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Kelly A. Ayotte
United States Senator

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