What’s New for Small Businesses

The nation’s 45 million small-business owners and self-employed taxpayers now have an Internal Revenue Service division devoted exclusively to them. The change is part of the agency’s massive restructuring. Other items to note:

* New addresses: California taxpayers who file Schedule C business profit-and-loss forms with their 1040 returns, and who owe taxes, now should mail their federal returns to P.O. Box 7704, San Francisco, CA 94120-7704. Returns that do not include payments should be mailed to the IRS in Fresno, CA 93888-0002. Corporate returns should be mailed to the IRS’ Ogden, Utah, facility.

* Easier EINs: The IRS has made it easier to get an employer identification number--essential if you have employees, a Keogh retirement plan or operate as a partnership or corporation. Taxpayers can call toll-free (866) 816-2065 from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Californians also can send EIN requests by fax, using the instructions on Form SS-4, to the Philadelphia service center at (215) 516-3990. For more information, go to the IRS Web site at www.irs.gov.

* Higher Section 179 limit: You can write off up to $24,000 in qualifying business equipment purchases, known as Section 179 expenses, for 2001. The limit for 2000 was $20,000.

--Liz Pulliam Weston