IRS tax forms and instructions for 1990-94 can be downloaded from . Adobe Acrobat format (PDF) is used, taking about 100KB per form. Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from . PostScript forms for the US and certain states are available from , plus links to public- domain tax software, the entire U.S. tax code, and Canadian tax forms in Excel format. [Adam C. Engst and Chris Habig , TidBITS, 1/30/95.] (Mark Kantrowitz reported variants of these addresses: , for general tax info, and for state forms.)

The IRS is also offering a Tax Forms CD-ROM with a full set of 1994 forms. $29 from 202-512-1800. [BW, 3/20/95, p. 18.] (Suppose the IRS supplied an expert system to figure your taxes. And suppose the expert-system code _was_ the tax law. Maybe programmers would be as well-respected as tax lawyers? :-)

Don't wait until April 15 to try out your tax software; it might have been shipped on a bad disk. If you are using MacInTax, have a full backup and turn off extensions before running the installer. There have been reports of trashed hard disks. [Hank Shiffman , comp.sys.mac.apps, 3/29/95.]

J.K. Lasser's "Your Income Tax 1995" is available on , from the Macmillan Publishing USA Information SuperLibrary. Also tax tips on J.K. Lasser's Tax Alert Hotline, and answers to the most frequently asked tax questions. [Brian Mansfield , net-hap, 2/2/95.]

Business software purchased after 9/10/93 is depreciated over 36 months (straight-line amortization), unless it has a clear one-year life span (such as tax software) or is substantially modified, under exclusive license, or not generally available to the public. If it becomes obsolete in less than 36 months, you can claim the unamortized balance on Form 4797 (and state forms such as CA Form D-1). Or you can expense the software under Code Section 179, which permits business equipment deductions of up to $17,500/year ($10K in CA). [SJM, 3/15/95, 2F.]

Checks sent in December but received in January are counted as January income, for cash businesses -- unless you could have picked up the check earlier (i.e., you "had control") and chose to delay payment. The company paying you may report a December payment on a 1099 MISC form, in which case you should attach an explanation to your return. If foreign currency is involved, keep a record of the exchange rate on the day payment was received or deposited. [SJM, 3/15/95, 2F.] (But do I incur an expense when I charge it to my credit card, or when I pay the card company? When I make a long-distance call, or when I pay the phone bill? My intuition gives different answers for the two, especially if I use revolving credit on the card but pay the phone bill in full. What if I pay the phone bill with a charge card? Consistency is probably all that matters for a small business. But don't think that logicians, philosophers, and programmers are the only ones who deal with temporal models, domain knowledge, case-based reasoning, and subtle logic.)