Help for Small Businesses with Federal Taxes

Column by Barbara Weltman

Recent developments in the federal goverment may be of help to you as a small business owner. Relevant changes include:

Special IRS division

The Small Business and Self–Employed Division (SB/SE) of the IRS now serves approximately 45 million taxpayers (more than 33 million of whom are fully or partially self–employed). This division handles not only income tax issues for small business but also employment and excise tax matters.

This new division is comprised of all self–employed individuals and other businesses with assets under $10 million (larger businesses fall under a different division). The SB/SE division accounts for about 40 percent of the total federal tax revenues collected. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the SB/SE has service centers in Brookhaven (NY), Cincinnati, Memphis, Ogden (UT), and Philadelphia. The goal of this IRS division is customer assistance — education and services — to help small businesses, especially startups, comply with the tax laws.

Visit the SB/SE division's Web site.

Small Business Administration (SBA) assistance

The SBA has joined with the IRS to provide a special CD–ROM called "Small Business Resource Guide: What You Need to Know About Taxes and Other Products." It is available free of charge through the SB/SE gateway. Also, IRS tax experts now participate in SBA Business Information Centers where tax forms and publications are available.

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