With so much happening with the Internal Revenue Service these days, you might be wondering how to keep up with it all. Clearly, keep reading taxgirl.com and Forbes.com – we’ve got you covered! But you can also follow the IRS on social media these days for the agency’s take on current issues. Here’s a quick rundown on how you can stay connected:
- IRS2Go. You can download the IRS2Go app for your iPhone (via the iTunes store) or Android (via Google Play). The app allows you to check the status of your federal income tax return; get tax updates; request your tax records; follow the latest in IRS news and watch IRS YouTube videos. C’mon, you know you want to.
- YouTube. Despite the fact that Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) was apparently unaware that IRS has a production studio, the IRS does make a number of videos available for taxpayers on a range of serious tax topics (no Gilligan’s Island spoofs for you!). To locate videos that might be of interest – or amusement, take your pick – head over to the IRS YouTube channel. Videos are also available in American Sign Language, Spanish, and other languages.
- Twitter. If you follow the blog, you know that I’m a huge fan of twitter. The IRS is on twitter, too. And you have to admit that it’s a pretty impressive feat to try to condense 73,954 regular 8-1/2″ x 11″ sheets of paper (CCH report downloads as a pdf) into manageable bites, 140 characters at a time. IRS offers dedicated twitter feeds for tax pros, recruitment (I suspect there might be a few openings these days) and from the Taxpayer Advocate. Tweets are also available in Spanish.
- Tumblr. I know that Tumblr is all the rage these days but I just can’t get into it – it feels like Blog-Lite to me. That said, if it’s your thing, the IRS has a Tumblr page where they post snippets about the latest tax news (right now, they’re focusing on disaster relief).
- Facebook. The IRS does have a public Facebook page (and has since 2010) but it’s basically a placeholder. It’s not updated (ever) – I suspect that’s largely tied to worries about the kinds of personal and tax information that taxpayers might post on the site. There is a public Facebook page for the IRS Return Preparer Office geared towards tax professionals which is updated occasionally. You can also find a public Facebook Page for the Tax Advocate – it is updated but due to privacy concerns, taxpayers cannot make comments on the site.
