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Thursday, March 30, 2000 By David Radin
Q: How can I use the Internet to help me prepare my personal taxes?
A: The quickest and easiest way to take advantage of the Internet without changing your current preparation activities substantially is to download your tax forms. These forms are available from the Internal Revenue Service in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. Acrobat normally allows a clean version of the document, which you can print, fill out by pen, and submit. You'll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the file and print it. There's also a minor glitch: When you print some tax forms, not all of the text is printed correctly, so you won't be able to read it on your paper version. But the IRS seems willing to accept these printouts as forms, and the text is readable on your computer screen. This causes you the slight inconvenience of making you display the document on your computer screen while you fill in the hard copy so you can see what it really says.
Have a question for David Radin? Contact him at his Web site
You can also get state tax forms online, and, in some cases, tax forms from your local municipality. For instance, Mt. Lebanon now offers quarterly and yearly earned income tax forms on the municipal Web site, as well as real estate tax instructions.
A more comprehensive Internet capability allows you to submit federal and state tax forms and payments online. The IRS calls this option "e-file" and it is accomplished using online filing software and an IRS e-file partner. IRS e-file partners such as Complete Tax, Tax Slayer and Preptax.com will provide the software when you start your submission process using your browser. Intuit, which is also an IRS e-file partner, uses a similar process, which can be started using your browser or directly from Quicken 2000 (by clicking on the "Taxes" Quick Tab, then selecting "Web TurboTax.") You can simultaneously pay your tax while you submit your form by having the IRS charge your credit card or debit your bank account.
Not everybody can submit his or her state tax return electronically. In Pennsylvania, the Department of Revenue has instituted a program called PA Direct File, in which you can use your browser to fill out and submit your tax form. PA Direct File is smart. While I was experimenting with it, the program realized that I had changed a parameter from last year's return, and notified me that I am not allowed to file electronically if I change this parameter. Similarly, you'll be ineligible for PA Direct File if you operate a business that shows up as profit or loss on your personal return, have lottery winnings (We should all be so lucky), claim certain tax credits, or file tax schedules with your standard return.
Some IRS e-file partners can simultaneously submit federal and state returns.
There are a number of Web sites that provide comprehensive tax information including WorldWideWebTax online, and Uncle Fed's Tax Board. I have also put together a Stellar list of tax preparation Web sites.
Q: My modem is too loud. How do I lower the volume?
A: When you connect to the Internet via dial-up modem, your modem emits a series of sounds that help it connect with the modem on the other side. While the sounds may seem like noise to you, each sound means something different, allowing the modems to determine the speed at which they should try to connect and other parameters. Most of us hear these sounds as the modems connect (as well as dial tone and ringing sounds from your phone line); and they provide a nice audio confirmation that you are connecting. The sounds should automatically discontinue once you're connected.
You may change the volume or turn it off completely from your Windows Control Panel. From the [Start] button, select [Settings], then [Control Panel]. When the Control Panel window appears, double-click on the modems icon. Select the correct modem, and go to [Properties]. There, with your mouse, you can slide the speaker volume control to the left to lower the volume or to the right to make it louder.
David Radin is host of the nationally syndicated radio show Internet Insider, a local version of which is aired on KDKA AM 1020 on Saturdays at noon.
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