IRS to stop mailing income tax forms

In a move that could have impact for rural Americans without reliable Internet service, the Internal Revenue Service announced it will no longer mail instructions and paper forms for annual income tax returns. The agency said it will save "about $10 million a year as more Americans are filing online," Ed O'Keefe of The Washington Post reports. The agency said about 11.5 million people who filed paper forms received the tax information in the mail in 2009.

"More than 96 million individuals have filed their tax returns this year via IRS e-File (up about 6 million from 2008) and an estimated 20 million paper returns were filed through paid tax preparers, according to the agency," O'Keefe writes. Taxpayers who filed paper forms last year should expect a letter from the IRS about the decision in the coming weeks. "Taxpayers who want to file paper returns can still obtain the forms at IRS.gov, local IRS offices or at participating libraries and post offices," O'Keefe writes. (Read more)