Looking for paper tax forms?

Finding a paper tax form can be hard these days. In the past, every tax form used to be readily available in post offices and public libraries. This just isn’t the case anymore. Back in 2015, in order to keep government costs low, the Tax Form Outlet Program, which provides paper federal tax forms, lost their funding due to tax cuts that were made to the IRS. Over the past couple of years, the program has provided fewer and fewer printed tax forms to public entities like libraries as their funding is slowly drying up.

The State of Iowa hasn’t provided tax forms to libraries or any other public institution for more than 5 years. The state expects tax payers to file their taxes online. However, if you still want to use a paper form it is possible, just not easy.

The library currently provides a limited amount of 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ forms and instructions for individual use and a handful of business forms. We also provide the Individual Iowa State tax form but it costs 10 cents for a two sided copy. At this time, all of our forms have been received from the IRS. Once these forms and instructions run out, the library cannot receive more forms.

If the library doesn’t have the federal income tax form or a set of instructions you need, you can request forms by calling 800-532-1531. The library is happy to print copies of these forms for individuals at 10 cents per page. Printed forms from the computer, except for some business forms which are printed on triplicate paper, are all valid tax forms and can be submitted to the federal and state government without any problem

There are many places that offer free tax preparation help or services. One of those services, VITA, is hosted by the library. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) is run by the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business. Please check what is necessary to qualify for their services, as well as the dates they provide this service.