FAQ: Tax forms at the Library

It's that time of year again. No, not the time for Cadbury chocolate bunnies. It's the time when reference librarians across the U.S. field dozens of questions daily about tax forms. This year, delivery of Federal tax forms is later than ever. It seems that this has something to do with Congress delaying making a decision about the budget at the end of 2012. I know: shocking, isn't it? We all know that Congress is a model of cooperation and efficiency, so it is really shocking to realize that their procrastination, ruminations and lamentations at the end of last year did have real world consequences. We, on the front line of free tax form hand-out points, know this. Libraries don't have many tax forms to hand out this year. We are very sorry about this. We are as sorry as we can be. If we did have forms, we would put them out and you could take them home and do your taxes and the IRS would get their money and librarians would feel happy that we provided this public service and our patrons would be, well not happy to fork over their money, but at least able to cross 'paying taxes' off their to do list. Everyone is frustrated. We hope this schematic (isn't that what we call a chart these days?) will help answer the all-important questions you may have about The Case of the Missing Tax Forms.