Small Business Resource Guide
- About This CD
- Comments
- Disclaimer of Endorsement
Technical Support Help Desk
- Read Me File
- Toolbar
- IRS Tax Products
- Adobe Acrobat Approval 5.05
Fill In Forms Help
Accessibility
About This CD
The Small Business Resource Guide was developed
by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in cooperation with the
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in an effort to help
businesses find the information needed for success.
This CD contains IRS tax forms, instructions,
publications and other tax-related products in Adobe's Portable
Document Format (PDF). These tax products can be viewed, printed,
searched and in many cases filled in using the Adobe Acrobat Approval
software provided. For more information about Acrobat see the
Adobe Acrobat Approval paragraph below.
Also included are Taxpayer Information Publications (TIPS) in
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) format.
We hope you will find
this product useful and would appreciate your comments or suggested
improvements:
E-Mail: irssbacd@Fedworld.gov
Phone: (703) 487-4608
Disclaimer of
Endorsement
As a convenience to taxpayers, the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) and Small Business Association (SBA) have
provided links from the CD-ROM to other Web sites offering information
that may be of interest to small business taxpayers. The IRS,
SBA, and the United States Government do not endorse or warrant
these Web sites, the organizations, or their products and services.
The decision to use or not use any of these Web sites or products
and services will not result in any special treatment from the
IRS or SBA.
Technical Support
To obtain assistance for the installation
or operation of this CD-ROM, please use one of the following to
contact the IRS CD-ROM Technical Support Help Desk:
Phone: (703) 487-4608
Fax (703) 605-6745
E-Mail: irssbacd@Fedworld.gov
Please also view the ReadMe
file.
Do Not use the publicized IRS toll-free telephone
number for taxpayer assistance. The operators are not trained
to answer any questions regarding this CD-ROM. All such inquires
will be referred back to the Technical Support Help Desk listed
above.
Toolbar
In order to make information easier for you to locate on the
"Small Business Resource Guide," we have included a
toolbar with the following topics:
Help. This help file.
Updates.
Provides a direct link to the Web Business Resource Guide updates
page on the IRS' World Wide Web site "The Digital Daily."
The Small Business Resource Guide updates page will provide
current information about this CD-ROM and additional links to
the most current information resources available on any of the
government agencies web sites that contributed to the content
of the CD.
What's New. Provides
information to important tax law changes and other changes for
this printing of the CD.
Tell Me More. Provides additional
information, such as accessibility features and newsletter subscription
options.
Feedback. Provides two
primary ways that you can provide your comments regarding this
CD.
Statistics. Provides links
to sites containing the latest economic statistics trends and
outlooks.
IRS Tax Products
This CD contains current business related tax forms, instructions,
and publications, approved before January 21, 2002. Tax products
released after the issuance of the CD-ROM can be downloaded from
the IRS World Wide Web site, 2002 SBRG Updates page at www.irs.gov/businesses/sbrg_updates.
Please note that the IRS Web site is in the process of being
restructured. As a result, some links on this CD-ROM may change
and may not connect. In the event that this occurs, please go
to www.irs.gov
and search for the most current revision of all tax products.
The tax products on this CD provided in Adobe's Portable Document
Format (PDF) file structure are produced from the same PostScript
files used to create the original camera copy for printing the
bulk quantities for IRS. Forms which are "optically read"
(e.g. Form 1096 and the 1099 series), must be screened properly
and printed in the correct color, in order to match the "official"
IRS printed product. Procedures contained in IRS Publication 1167
(Catalog #47013F), Substitute Printed, Computer-Prepared and Computer-Generated
Tax Forms and Schedules, apply to the reproduction of IRS forms.
In addition to the PDF files, the Taxpayer Information Publications
(TIPS) are also provided in HyperText Markup Language (HTML).
If the printed version of the publication has an index, it will
not be included in the electronic version. The printed copies,
which you can order by calling (800) 829-3676, will have complete
indexes. The TIPS items are in an HTML viewable format using a
standard Internet browser.
The 2002 CD again provides the fill in and save forms feature.
A feature of Adobe Acrobat that enables the CD-ROM user to enter
data on a tax form and print the form with the data on it. You
cannot file these fill in forms electronically. PDF files enable
you to view, search text, navigate, fill in and print pages of
information in the same format that you are accustomed to seeing
on paper products.
Paper copies of IRS products that are not contained on this disc
may be ordered through one of the IRS' Area Distribution Centers
by calling (800) 829-3676.
IRS electronic information can be accessed via the Internet.
There are over 900 current tax forms with instructions and over
100 publications available for downloading. Many tax research
tools are available including tax regulations, tax topics, frequently
asked questions, statistical studies, important changes, newsletters
and much more. There is also information on a variety of programs
like Electronic Filing, TeleFile, 1040-PC, and others.
Product files are available through one of the following:
FTP Site Access Via Internet = ftp.irs.gov
World Wide Web (Home Page) = www.irs.gov
Adobe Acrobat Approval 5.05 (PDF Files)
A fully functional version of Acrobat Approval 5.05 is included
on the SBRG CD-ROM. To install, navigate to the "Acrobat"
folder on the SBRG CD and double-click "Setup". You
should close all applications, including the SBRG, before installing
Acrobat. (The IRS has paid a licensing fee for this software and
it may NOT be copied or used on more than one workstation.)
Adobe Acrobat Approval and full-versions of Acrobat enable you
to Fill-in, Print, Search, and save PDF documents. While viewing
PDFs in your browser, you may only search for text in the pdf
you are viewing. To search all of the pdfs on the SBRG simultaneously
(Index Search), follow the instructions below.
Troubleshooting: See ReadMe
Performing an Index Search:
Open the file named "indexsearch.pdf" directly from
the CD-ROM. Click the "binocular with paper" icon on
the Acrobat toolbar. For complete instructions, view the Acrobat
Help Guide for information on how to use the Index Search.
Fill-in Form Help
Fill-in forms enable you to enter information and then print the
form if desired. These forms give you a cleaner crisper printout
for your records and for filing with the IRS. There is no built-in
mechanism for self-computation or self-verification of the information
you enter, and you are still responsible for entering all required
information (some instructions may require you to hand-write an
amount on the form).
Note: The Adobe Acrobat Approval product supplied with this CD
enables you to save your completed form to disk. However, you
must start the Acrobat Approval application and then open the
specific form you wish to fill-in. Forms you access through a
Web (html) browser can be filled-in and printed, but cannot be
saved.
Entering Information
A fill-in form contains two types of fillable areas: check box
and text field.
Check Box - To fill-in a check box, make sure the "hand"
(cursor) is selected and move your mouse over the check box until
the hand turns into a pointer. Select the box and a check mark
will appear. If you select the field a second time the check mark
will disappear.
Text Box - To fill-in a text box, make sure the "hand"
(cursor) is selected and move your mouse over a fillable area
until the hand turns to an "I". Select the field and
the "I" will appear in position to begin entering information.
All text data is left justified, while numeric data is right justified.
Note: You cannot change the characteristics of the fillable areas.
Text boxes can be multi or single-line. A multi-line field allows
you to use a carriage return when entering information. We have
used a multi-line field when name and address is requested in
the same box. However, the majority of the fillable areas are
single line.
CD-ROM Basic Form Navigation
You can move through the form by using the tab key or by selecting
additional fields with your mouse. The Acrobat Reader does not
enable auto tabbing and the tab key must be used each time to
advance to the next fillable area.
To view and search the PDF files on this CD, PDF navigation files
with cross-document links and indexes were created using Adobe
Acrobat and Acrobat Catalog software. The CD-ROM provides full
text search capabilities for all the PDF files.
Tax Forms and Document Accessibility
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) files are considered accessible
for persons using screen-reading devices and refreshable Braille
displays. In addition to HTML files there are Adobe Acrobat Portable
Document Format (PDF) tax forms and documents. The IRS uses PDF
as a means of distributing these government forms and documents.
Tax products in PDF format are electronic images of the IRS printed
products and these files generally do not lend themselves well
to non-graphical representation. Persons using screen-reading
devices generally cannot directly read the PDF documents on this
CD-ROM. However, Adobe Systems, Inc. provides a free translation
service through their "Access" web page.
To make IRS products more accessible, the IRS Alternative Media
Center is preparing the most popular tax forms, instructions,
and tax publications using full text descriptions. These files
will be available for download through the IRS Digital Daily web
site. These files will be prepared in ASCII text format, HTML,
enhanced PDF, and/or transcribed for Braille. For updated information
please view the IRS web
site.