What You Need to Know about Income Tax Forms at the Library

This week’s column was submitted by Gwen LaCosse, reference assistant at the .

Yes, it is April (no fooling), and there’s a little more than a week before a certain annual deadline.

Not to worry. If you have not yet submitted your 2011 federal and state income taxes, keep in mind that the Des Plaines Public Library has a great selection of tax forms and publications to help you meet the April 17 filing deadline.

Earlier:

The library carries the basic forms for individuals, including the U.S. 1040, 1040A and 1040 EZ and accompanying instruction booklets.

You also can find the 1040 form — individual income tax return for Illinois — and its instructions, as well as other state tax forms, at the library. Or, you can download them from the Illinois Department of Revenue’s website.

Most tax forms are available online, but if you would rather not read multi-page tax publications on a computer screen, check out the two dozen federal tax publications and two State of Illinois publications on-hand at the library. Federal publications include:

• 463 Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses
• 502 Medical and Dental Expenses
• 505 Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax
• 550 Investment Income and Expenses
• 596 Earned Income Credit

The library also has federal and state estimated tax forms.

Some 2011 income tax forms at the Des Plaines Public Library cannot be downloaded from the Internal Revenue Service’s website. These include:

• 1096 Annual Summary and Transmittal of U.S. Information Returns
• 1098-E Student Loan Interest Statement
• 1098-T Tuition Statement
• W-2 Wage and Tax Statements for 2011
• W-3 Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements

Visit the library’s website for a list of income tax forms and publications on-hand. Patrons can reach the reference desk at (847) 376-2841, or by texting to (847) 220-8398.

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