In Brief : IRS Readies Forms for Mailing

The Internal Revenue Service today previewed the new tax forms that 101 million Americans should begin receiving in the mail next week.

The IRS traditionally mails out the 101 million tax packages after Christmas in order to avoid the holiday crush but allow taxpayers plenty of time to begin preparing their returns, which are due April 15.

In presenting the 1988 tax packages, IRS officials emphasized that they contained few changes from the forms taxpayers used last year when taxpayers for the first time filed returns that reflected the more than 2,000 changes made by the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

Despite the many changes on those forms, the IRS said most taxpayers were able to file accurate forms promptly and received their returns on time. The IRS said most of the changes this year will be so subtle that they would likely go unnoticed by taxpayers.

The change with the biggest impact reflects the final reduction in personal tax rates mandated by the sweeping 1986 tax overhaul law. However, those reductions are incorporated in the tax tables and do not show up in the forms at all.