IRS to Send Forth Its Mobile Van to Rescue Beleaguered Taxpayers : TAXES

With a little more than a month to go until the federal income tax filing deadline, the Internal Revenue Service on Monday will begin visiting a half dozen Orange County neighborhoods with a traveling tax van.

The IRS Mobile Van is staffed by two agency employees who can provide assistance with taxpayers’ tax questions and information about basic tax return preparation.

In addition, the van will be crammed with tax forms, informational booklets, California state income tax return forms and applications for Social Security numbers. The latter is largely because of the new “kiddie” tax that requires a federal return from children with more than $500 in income.

The van is scheduled to visit communities where IRS offices are “not easily accessible,” an IRS official said.

In Orange County, that includes neighborhoods in Garden Grove, Anaheim, Santa Ana, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente and Mission Viejo.

For the exact times and locations, you can call 1-800-544-4477 and ask for Topic 999 when prompted by the friendly computer. However, that is an IRS information line, and it is busy, busy, busy.

So, for those who don’t want to listen to a busy signal, here’s the list (hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. unless noted):

GARDEN GROVE: Monday, Hare School Park, 12012 Magnolia St.

ANAHEIM: Tuesday, Senior Citizen Center, 280 E. Lincoln Ave.

SANTA ANA: Thursday, Corbin Community Center, 2215 W. McFadden Ave.; March 18, Senior Citizen Center, 424 W. 3rd St.; March 19, post office, 101 W. Sunflower Ave., noon-2 p.m.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO: March 21 and 22, City Hall, 32400 Paseo Adelanto.

SAN CLEMENTE: March 24 and 25, Community Center, 100 N. Calle Seville.

MISSION VIEJO: March 26, post office, 28081 Marguerite Parkway, noon-2 p.m.