IRS Publications Demystified

The IRS offers an amazing number of publications; here are some we feel are most valuable for small business owners. These are excellent publications, but since the IRS has taken care to try to include EVERYTHING that might ever apply to any business, they are packed with text and each probably has far more information than you care to process. At first glance, your inclination may be to do anything else instead of sit down and read them.

Here’s a brief introduction to publications you might want to view online, download, print out or pick up. We’ll do our best to demystify what you’ll find inside.

Warning if you want to print IRS publication pdfs from the web -- it’s likely to be a hefty print job! We wrecked our most dependable printer in the process of printing IRS publications; and we undoubtedly killed several trees, too. So you might want to drop by your IRS office to pick the publications up -- or plan ahead and request they be mailed to you.

Or, you can view many publications as html web pages online. Since they have more white space, you may find these easier to read. But don’t even think about printing them -- they’d gobble paper worse than the pdfs.

To link to the publication you want from the IRS site, type its number in the search box. Then, if you want the html version, stick with the default within “IRS site” before you press the “GO” button. If instead, you want the pdf version, under “within” pull the dropdown menu to select “Forms & Publications” before you press “GO.”

We’ll shorten your research process by giving you the quick take on what’s there, so you won’t have to peruse entire documents just to find out. But still, going over these tax info publications could take a LONG TIME, so you might want to plan to take a lot of breaks. (But don’t try assimilating this info while you’re watching TV or doing something else that diverts part of your attention -- keep your undivided focus on the publication, otherwise you’ll miss important points!)

Get ready! Brew up another cup of something caffeinated while you play with the cat, walk the dog, wrestle with the kids, take a jog -- then return -- armed with fresh energy to tackle some heavy reading.

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