Pferd. Kuh. Ente. Gelb. Rot. Blau.
Throw in a few numbers and you now have the extent of my ability to speak German. Farm animals, colors, and numbers. That’s what I’ve picked up from the children’s books at the house: my kids speak better German than I do.
It’s fun to learn a new language. And in the United States, we have plenty of reasons to learn a second – or third – language. We’ve always been a melting pot and that tradition continues today. It’s evident to me just from my client list: this week alone, we’ve handled Thai, Indian and German clients at the office.
No matter what language you speak at home, your tax obligations inside the country are the same. It can be tough enough to figure out the Tax Code when you speak English (because let’s face it, the Tax Code sure doesn’t read like it’s written in English) but it can be practically impossible when you’re not completely proficient in English. To assist taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service has beefed up its multilingual resources in an effort to make it easier for all taxpayers to comply with their tax obligations. The web site at www.irs.gov now has pages in five languages.
To access those resources, you simply click on the Languages button on the homepage.
Next, choose from the pull-down menu.
You can see resources, including links to forms and publications, in the following languages:
- Español Spanish
- 中文 Chinese
- 한국어 Korean
- TiếngViệt Vietnamese
- Pусский Russian
The most comprehensive resources outside of the English site can be found on EL IRS en Español. The site includes access to information, downloads, and online tools including the EITC Assistant (Asistente EITC), on-line payment agreements, the “Where’s My Refund?” tool (Dónde está mi reembolso?) and Spanish Free File. You can even follow the IRS en Español on Twitter or watch any number of videos, including those on the Spanish edition of the IRS YouTube channel.
Other resources are also available though not as comprehensive. In total, there are more than 700 downloadable forms and publications in other languages on the IRS web site. One language you won’t see? Klingon. Though apparently, it’s good enough for official resignation letters in North Carolina.
