The Federal Tax Code is a popular tool for members of Congress to bring in more spending money and repay obligations to special interests. The 60,044 page income tax code has been amended and patched so often that it is complex, convoluted, inefficient and unfair.

The tax code includes: depreciation schedules, multiple income tax brackets, complicated deduction rules and an Alternative Minimum Tax. It is so complex that the Internal Revenue, itself, has difficulties rendering opinions on certain of its provisions.

The income tax is unfair because of the double taxation of Estates, Social Security income and dividends. It is undemocratic because it penalizes individuals for their financial prowess. The tax treatment of the wealthy is analogous to making Tiger Woods play a longer golf course than the other competing golf professionals because of his superior skills. The code is costly because of the time and expense required to fill out the complicated forms. Finally, the Alternative Minimum Tax provision directed at wealthy individuals affects the middle class now because it wasn’t indexed for inflation; an example of the unintended consequences of Congressional micromanaging.

Substituting the flat tax for the prevailing income tax will instantly increase the effectiveness of citizens and businesses in America. The economies of the twelve foreign countries, which switched to the flat tax, have improved dramatically. The flat tax is the ideal income tax because it simple, fair, progressive, and cost effective. It’s: – simple, can be filled on a post card – fair because everyone pays the same percentage of their income – progressive, the higher the income, the higher the tax – cost effective, eliminates the tax preparation time of individuals and/ or using costly tax professionals. This tax would save millions of dollars of the IRS budget ($11.4 billion, 2008) by reducing the number of its employees (86,585, 2006). There are other valuable adjunct benefits to the flat tax. It eliminates double taxation, simplifies tax planning, enhances the economy, increases privacy, improves compliance, and generates more tax revenue.

There will be many vociferous critics of the flat tax. Naturally, the adversely affected individuals, IRS employees, accountants and tax lawyers, will oppose these changes in the present Federal Income Tax Code. Politicians will oppose this tax because it will deprive them of a powerful tool to stay in office. A blatant example of a member of Congress using the tax code, to satisfy a sponsor, is the famous Gallo Wine Amendment. In 1978, Julio and Ernest Gallo helped Senator Alan Cranston win a difficult re-election in California. Cranston returned the favor by getting a tax amendment passed on a Saturday, with few Senators present that allowed the Gallo family to spread their inheritance payments over several years.

The benefits of the flat tax extend beyond simplicity and fairness. After-tax income will rise. There will be renewed work incentives. The reduction of taxation on investments will shift capital to producing goods and services. This shift will create new businesses and industries with the concomitant increase in employment. Industries will be encouraged to locate in the USA and the shift to off shore jobs will decrease. All of these positive changes will insure the continuous growth of our economy.

Art Woodrow, a veteran of World War II who is dedicated to restoring our democratic process, is the founder of The Democracy Conservator Foundation. DCF is a not-for-profit, apolitical organization seeking to increase the involvement of U.S. citizens in the political process and to encourage the discussion and debate of issues our society faces today. To learn more about how to make your vote count, visit http://www.democracyconservator.org

Intellectual Property Audit Breakdown

An intellectual property audit breaks down into nine areas that the intellectual property attorney should examine: patents, contracts with independent contractors, employment contracts, trademarks, licenses, trade secrets, copyrights including organization handbooks, training, and inventions. Each area has its own requirements that must be monitored through an audit.
The attorney should first notify everyone who may be involved that the audit is about to take place. She then interviews the technical, legal, managerial, and human resources people to collect information on “…licenses, research and development reports, employee and contractor confidentiality and assignment agreements, and employee invention disclosure statements.” Based on the information thus obtained, she then documents the status of the organization’s intellectual property.
Inventions

Inventions are the first step in the development of potentially very valuable intellectual property. The attorney performing the audit should determine whether the organization is even aware of all the inventive activity carried out within its walls. Does the organization “harvest” its inventions (i.e., require disclosure of inventions and review disclosed inventions for patentability)? Is there an inventor incentive program in place? Does the organization monitor its employees’ inventive activity in other ways, such as having the in-house counsel “manage by meandering,” that is, walk through the laboratories and other workspaces of the potential inventors and talk with them? The attorney performing the intellectual property audit should identify any weaknesses in the organization’s “harvesting” of inventions and bring them to the attention of management at a level where they can be addressed.
Patents

Once an invention is disclosed, the organization must determine whether to obtain a patent on it, and in which country or countries a patent would be most valuable to the organization. Obtaining patent protection requires that the organization be aware of new innovations that occur in the research and development process.
In the United States, the patent law is set forth in Section 35 of the United States Code. That law provides that an invention must be of patentable subject matter, original, novel and nonobvious to be eligible for patent protection. “Patentable subject matter” is defined in the code as “processes, machines, manufactures, and compositions of matter.”
The attorney determines whether the organization’s R&D staff maintains proper records of new developments that are reviewed and witnessed at regular and frequent intervals, thereby providing documentation for patentability determinations, and whether the organization observes the statutory time limits for patenting new inventions. If, for example, the invention is made public more than one year before the organization applies for a patent, the organization is barred from obtaining a patent on the invention.
The attorney also examines the organization’s treatment of others’ patent rights: does the organization monitor itself in the light of others’ patents to reduce the potential for infringing activity? Does the organization routinely seek a patent opinion when there is the potential for infringing another’s patent before they begin any potentially infringing activity?
Contracts in General

Each contract that an organization enters into with regard to its intellectual capital must contain many elements, and parts of each contract must be individually negotiated.
Contracts, however, are expressed in language, and language is inherently prone to uncertainty in its interpretation, especially in cases where the contract’s drafter had little or no part in the negotiation of the agreement. The drafter’s job is to “…record exactly the transaction that the parties wish to undertake.” However, the probability of achieving absolute certainty in drafting any agreement is essentially zero; it cannot be done. Definitions of terms in the contract invariably use undefined terms, and those undefined terms are often not definable. Therefore, even in the best scenario where a contract contains definitions for all its terms, the parties must still look to the judge for the reading of the contract, and then must interpret the judge’s reading, and the judge cannot consider all of the evidence surrounding the contract under the parol evidence rule. Even precise contracts are therefore remarkably imprecise.
However, even under the parol evidence rule, “[a] dispute over [an] alleged conversation that resulted in the oral license [cannot be offered into evidence under the parol evidence rule but] may be resolved by proof of partial performance…. Absent other complicating facts or application of the Statute of Frauds, a court could infer from such partial performance the scope of the license,…the consideration,…and the term….”
The auditing attorney may examine the license agreements and strategic alliances between the client and another organization to be sure that the agreements cover trade secrecy for the client, appropriately license any trademarks or patents, and are to the client’s advantage (or at least not to the client’s disadvantage).
Employment Contracts

Independent Contractors

By definition, independent contractors pose a conflict for protecting an organization’s intellectual assets. Independent contractors are generally experts in a particular area, and they market their expertise to many organizations. If one (or more) of those organizations has intellectual capital in something that an independent contractor has provided to them, the contractor should not be able to provide that same intellectual capital to other organizations, especially competing organizations. However, that expert still needs to make a living, and she does so by marketing her expertise.
This conflict is resolved best by having a clear contract with the independent contractor from the outset of the business arrangement, specifying who owns the expert’s work product, and who owns the contractor’s notes and ideas gotten while the contractor works for the organization.
One way to resolve the conflict is for the contractor and organization to agree to a shop right for the organization, wherein the contractor owns the intellectual capital, but the organization has a royalty-free license thereupon for the life of the information. This is very contractor-friendly because it allows the contractor to freely market the information to any other organization that she might contract with, but the organization can suffer from this arrangement because it cannot keep the information the contractor developed as trade secret (if the contractor assigns any invention then the organization can of course hold that patent), and therefore cannot properly commercialize any product that is derived from that information.
Another way to resolve the conflict is to “flip the coin” and give the organization full ownership of the intellectual capital that the contractor develops but allow the contractor access to all the non-trade-secret information he developed for the organization. This is excellent for the organization, but may deny to the contractor some or all of his area of expertise to market to other potential clients.
Many ways exist to resolve this apparent conflict between the organization and the independent contractor. Outright purchase of information, royalties for access to information, grantbacks, agreements that change with time, sublicenses, assignments, use licenses can all be used individually or in combination to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement between the parties.
Clearly, each contract with each independent contractor needs to be negotiated individually. The contract will be based on the needs of each party at the time and in the foreseeable future, and these needs change with the parties and over time.
Employees

Agreements between an organization and its employees are used routinely to protect an organization’s intellectual property assets. They usually cover an organization’s trade secrets, inventions and works of authorship, and are generally signed both on an employee’s entrance to an organization and exit from the organization.
Employment contracts are part of the intellectual property of the organization; they delineate the protection of the organization’s intellectual assets both during and after the employee’s tenure. Each organization must be careful to ask each employee in an entrance interview whether she signed a non-disclosure agreement with any former employer that would be violated by the current organization’s employment agreement; if she did, the current employer must modify that employee’s agreement so as not to violate the former agreement.
Some employment agreements cover all trade secrets, inventions and works of authorship, whether or not related to the job the employee was hired to perform; others cover only those works created specifically for the organization while employed there; still others cover those works that the employee creates for the organization and those works that would compete directly or indirectly with any goal of the organization.
The last of the above examples may be the most commonly used paradigm. The first (all trade secrets inventions and works of authorship while employed) is too broad; for example, this type of agreement could have given the valuable HARRY POTTER™ franchise to an employer had author J.K. Rowling signed it while writing the novels, whether or not the employer contributed anything (such as time, equipment, artistic support, etc.) to the work. This, of course, would have led to the employer’s enrichment at the employee’s expense, which is not a fair outcome for the employee. The second (only those works specifically created for the organization while employed at the organization) is not broad enough to properly protect the organization; an employee who must only protect an organization’s intellectual property while employed by the organization is free to leave and use the intellectual property she developed for the organization for a subsequent employer, possibly a competitor. The last example (works created for the organization and works that would compete with the goals of the organization) generally avoids assigning an employee’s off-hours noncompeting but potentially valuable work to an employer, while protecting the trade secrets and other intellectual capital of the organization. It may therefore be most likely to be advantageous for both the employer and the employee.
The intellectual property audit can ensure that the proper protection for the organization’s intellectual property is in place with the employment and independent contractor agreements. In doing so, the attorney verifies that those agreements are neither overbroad nor too narrow. If the employment agreement or the independent contractor agreement is either too broad or too narrow, the attorney can recommend changes to be made in the contract, and perhaps provide means for employees and independent contractors who signed the insufficient agreement and later left the organization to be brought under the umbrella of the new, more appropriate agreement.
The auditing attorney should examine the contracts for both independent contractors and employees to ensure that the proper protections are in place: trade secrets are not to be revealed to others without authorization, patents and copyrights are to be assigned to the organization,
Trademarks

An organization should record each assignment of a trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in language that includes the goodwill and not the trademark alone with the assignment. The attorney performing the intellectual property audit can ensure that the proper assignment is made and recorded for each mark.
It is possible for an organization to lose its rights in a trademark or service mark through abandonment of the mark, or through failure to timely file the proper documentation with the USPTO. The auditing attorney must confirm that the organization filed the required registration and maintenance documents with the USPTO and that it has used the mark continuously in interstate commerce.
It is also possible for an organization to lose its rights in a trademark or service mark through improper licensing and improper policing of its mark. If a mark has, through improper policing, become a generic descriptor for the goods, the mark is lost. “Escalator” and “cellophane” are two examples of marks that became generic and therefore lost to their owners; more current examples of marks that remain marks but are endangered are Kleenex® (how often do we grab a “kleenex” from the box of another brand of tissue?) and Xerox® (have you ever “xeroxed” a page?). The auditing attorney must ensure that any danger of becoming generic is addressed promptly and vigorously. Xerox Corp. and Kimberly-Clark (the makers of Xerox-brand photocopiers and Kleenex-brand tissues, respectively) spend millions of dollars annually to protect their marks.
The current registrations must cover the organization’s current trademarks, logos, slogans, and brands. By examining the packaging of the goods, the attorney can determine whether the currently registered marks match the currently used marks. The attorney should bring any discrepancy to the attention of the client.
Licenses

Licensing of intellectual property is one of the most efficient ways to capitalize on an intellectual asset. This means that the intellectual asset must be well protected by a license agreement. The full extent of a licensing agreement is beyond the scope of this work; it is a complex contract that should be negotiated on an individual basis.
The intellectual property attorney should make to make the following determinations with respect to the license contract.

• Is this an express license?

  Licenses may be express or implied. An express license is a statement by the licensor that the licensee has certain rights to use intellectual property owned by the licensor. If the statement is written down and signed by both parties, then that writing provides strong evidence of the existence of a contract.
  An implied license may arise from any one of a number of situations. They may be imposed by the courts based on the actions of the parties, or the parties may create the implied license without taking the matter to court by simply continuing to act as though a license exists. The intellectual property attorney might find an implied license by interviewing research personnel to see if they use technology from any source other than from within the organization, then tracing the ownership of any intellectual property that they use. The attorney might also find an implied license through a court’s ruling in litigation involving the technology in question.

• Is there a writing?

  As with all contracts, a writing is not absolutely required for a valid, enforceable bargain. In the knowledge-driven economy today, of course, most contracts are reduced to writing and signed, but an oral contract can be equally binding as a written one. Clearly a writing is far preferred in any contract situation, including an intellectual property audit, because the attorney conducting the intellectual property audit has the words of the agreement before her on the printed page.

• Is a license exclusive? Is the organization that is undergoing the intellectual
  property audit the licensor or licensee?

  A license can be exclusive (perhaps even denying the intellectual property owner the right to use the property) or non-exclusive. An exclusive license must be careful to look to the future and leave an opening in case the license proves unsatisfactory for any reason to either party.

• Does each license contain a granting clause?

  Each license must contain a granting clause specifying the scope of the license and the licensee’s powers with the license.

• Has the owner of the property reserved any rights?

  An intellectual property owner may choose to reserve, or keep back, some of the rights to the property (an example of this is the granting of a non-exclusive license).

• Does the license agreement specify who owns technology improvements?

  A license should specify who owns any improvements that the licensee makes in the licensed technology.

• Does the license specify royalties, payment schedules and accompanying
  reports?

  A license should specify all royalties and payment schedules, and the accompanying reports.

• Does the license agreement contain the standard contract clauses?

  A license agreement should contain the standard contract clauses, such as term of the agreement, how the agreement can be terminated or modified, who defends the licensed technology in the event of litigation, whether the parties agree to arbitration before or instead of litigation, an integration clause, and so forth as needed.

Trade Secrets

Any valuable patent is contained in an envelope of undisclosed information. This envelope is the trade secret know-how that an organization develops around the use of its patented technology. It is not described in the specification of the patent because the knowledge was developed after the patent application was filed, and the patent law requires only that the best mode as of the date of filing be disclosed.
Trade secrets are protected by contracts between the organization and its employees, between the organization and its independent contractors, between the organization and its business or technology partners. The intellectual property attorney who performs the intellectual property audit should evaluate how well these agreements protect the valuable trade secrets.
Copyrights, Including Organization Handbooks

An organization’s copyrights may be its most valuable asset. If the organization is based in the arts, then copyright becomes the foremost protection for its intellectual property.
Any material that is fixed and perceivable, directly or indirectly, in a tangible medium is copyrighted under the current U.S. copyright law. It is copyrighted from the moment of creation, but full protection is not available unless the work is registered in the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. The intellectual property attorney must check the status of the registration of the organization’s written materials to ensure that the courts can enforce the copyright laws of the United States if those written materials are infringed.
Training

Once the intellectual property audit is complete and the recommendations made, the organization should implement a training program for all employees to ensure that the recommendations that emerged from the audit are followed. Training should take place for all levels of the organization. The organization must identify those areas in which employees need training, and the level at which they need it. It then must design and deliver the appropriate training courses and materials, and design and deliver the appropriate follow-up ongoing support.
Copyright 2003, 2007, Nancy Baum Delain. All rights reserved.
Continued in Part V.

Nancy Baum Delain, a registered patent attorney, is the managing member of Delain Law Office, PLLC, an intellectual property and business law firm located in Clifton Park, NY. Nancy’s expertise lies in patent, trademark and copyright prosecution, contract, licensing, and general business matters. She answers her own phone. Find out more at http://www.ipattorneyfirm.com

Houston — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized a shipment of counterfeit sunglasses with an estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of more than $3 million. The officers seized the shipment September 16 after they confirmed the merchandise violated trademark laws.

“CBP officers are actively enforcing trade laws and protecting legitimate business owners and consumers from copyright and trademark infringements,” said Jeffrey O. Baldwin Sr., CBP’s Houston director of Field Operations. “When we identify products as counterfeit or confusingly similar, we take the necessary steps to protect the consumer and seize the shipment.”

The importer described the container’s shipment as sunglasses with a domestic value of about $50,000; however, when officers inspected the shipment they found sunglasses with designer name brands including Coach, XLOOP, Etienne Aigner and Lacoste affixed to the shades. Were the sunglasses authentic designer sunglasses, they would have retail value in the millions of dollars.

Seized property specialists will take possession of the sunglasses. CBP could assess fines and penalties to the importer that could equal the amount of the MSRP value.

In fiscal year 2009, the Houston CBP officers seized counterfeit sunglasses with an estimated MSRP value of $10.6 million. In fiscal year 2008, nationally the domestic value of counterfeit goods seized for intellectual property rights violations was up 38.7 percent to $272.2 million, an increase of more than $72 million from fiscal year 2007.

CBP seizures of counterfeit sunglasses and or their parts reached domestic value of $7.9 million in fiscal year 2008, which more than doubled the estimated domestic value of seizures of $3.9 million from fiscal year 2007.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation’s borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the National Archives and Records Administration took a major step today for personal, historical and genealogical research with a formal schedule to begin the transfer of alien registration files (A-files) for permanent retention at the National Archives.  Archival processing of approximately 135,000 files could be completed by next summer and available for public access.

The schedule was formalized in a signing ceremony at the National Archives in Washington.  Gregory B. Smith, Associate Director, USCIS and Chief, National Security and Records Verification Directorate, delivered the first files to Adrienne Thomas, Acting Archivist of the United States, who signed the new schedule.

“Immigration is one of the most significant aspects of the American experience,” said Smith.  The information contained in the A-file is unique.  No other type of case file contains the same level of comprehensive personal data…especially concerning the alien’s interaction with USCIS and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, and their request for resident status and/or citizenship.  This ensures that the records contained within the A-File will be retained forever in our National Archives – preserving a rich and important part of America’s immigration history.”

“These A-files are a key to unlocking the fascinating stories of millions of people who traveled to the United States in search of opportunity,” added Thomas.  “The National Archives is delighted that it will be able to safeguard the unique and important stories of brave men and women who left their homelands in search of a better life.”

The A-file is a series of records consisting of numbered files used to document the complete history of the interaction between an alien and the U.S. government.  The file is unique in that it not only contains routine demographic information, but may also include photographs, foreign birth certificates, marriage licenses, interview transcripts or actual recordings, and more.  Currently, USCIS maintains approximately 53 million A-files; of these, about 21 million have been retired to a Federal Records Center.

Previously, the A-file was considered a ‘temporary record’ and could possibly have been disposed of 75 years from the date the file was retired to a Federal Records Center or 75 years from the date of last action.  Now, the A-file becomes a permanent record which will transfer to National Archives custody 100 years from the individual’s date of birth.  Newly-eligible files will be transferred to the National Archives every five years.

After transfer to the National Archives, the majority of files will be housed at the National Archives in Kansas City.  Files on immigration through the port of San Francisco will be housed at the National Archives in San Francisco.  Once these records have been transferred, they will be available in the research rooms at these two National Archives facilities.  Copies will also be available through the mail.

Additional immigration-related information and links to resources geared specifically for genealogical research is available online from the Related Links of this page.

Taxpayers who buy a new car or several other types of motor vehicles this year may be entitled to a special tax deduction when they file their 2009 federal tax returns next year. The tax break is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Here are seven things you should know about this new deduction:

1. State and local sales taxes paid on up to $49,500 of the purchase price of qualifying vehicles are deductible.
2. Qualified motor vehicles generally include new (not used) cars, light trucks, motor homes and motorcycles.
3. Purchases must occur after Feb. 16, 2009, and before Jan. 1, 2010.
4. This deduction can be taken regardless of whether or not you itemize other deductions on your tax return.
5. Taxpayers will claim this deduction when filing their 2009 federal income tax return next year.
6. The amount of the deduction is phased out for taxpayers whose modified adjusted gross income is between $125,000 and $135,000 for individual filers and between $250,000 and $260,000 for joint filers.
7. The deduction may not be taken on 2008 tax returns.

Consumers who are considering buying a new car may find that this tax incentive means there may have never been a better time to buy.

For more information about the sales and excise tax deduction for motor vehicle purchases visit the official IRS web site at IRS.gov.

It’s a moment many taxpayers dread. A letter arrives from the IRS — and it’s not a refund check. Don’t panic; many of these letters can be dealt with simply and painlessly.

Each year, the IRS sends millions of letters and notices to taxpayers to request payment of taxes, notify them of a change to their account or request additional information. The notice you receive normally covers a very specific issue about your account or tax return. Each letter and notice offers specific instructions on what you are asked to do to satisfy the inquiry.

If you receive a correction notice, you should review the correspondence and compare it with the information on your return.

* Agree? If you agree with the correction to your account, usually no reply is necessary unless a payment is due.
* Disagree? If you do not agree with the correction the IRS made, it is important that you respond as requested. Write to explain why you disagree. Include any documents and information you wish the IRS to consider, along with the bottom tear-off portion of the notice. Mail the information to the IRS address shown in the upper left-hand corner of the notice. Allow at least 30 days for a response.

Most correspondence can be handled without calling or visiting an IRS office. However, if you have questions, call the telephone number in the upper right-hand corner of the notice. Have a copy of your tax return and the correspondence available when you call to help us respond to your inquiry.

Be sure to keep copies of any correspondence with your records.

When preparing to file your federal tax return, don’t forget your contributions to charitable organizations. Your donations could add up to a sizeable tax deduction if you itemize on IRS Form 1040, Schedule A.

Here are a few tips to ensure your contributions pay off on your tax return:

1. Contributions must be made to qualified organizations to be deductible. You cannot deduct contributions made to specific individuals, political organizations and candidates.
2. You cannot deduct the value of your time or services. Nor can you deduct the cost of raffles, bingo or other games of chance.
3. If your contributions entitle you to merchandise, goods or services, including admission to a charity ball, banquet, theatrical performance or sporting event, you can deduct only the amount that exceeds the fair market value of the benefit received.
4. Donations of stock or other property are usually valued at the fair market value of the property. Special rules apply to donation of vehicles.
5. Clothing and household items donated must generally be in good used condition or better to be deductible.
6. Regardless of the amount, to deduct a contribution of cash, check, or other monetary gift, you must maintain a bank record or a written communication from the organization containing the name of the organization, the date of the contribution and amount of the contribution.
7. To claim a deduction for contributions of cash or property equaling $250 or more you must obtain a written acknowledgment from the qualified organization showing the amount of the cash and a description of any property contributed, and whether the organization provided any goods or services in exchange for the gift. One document from the organization may satisfy both the written communication requirement for monetary gifts and the written acknowledgement requirement for all contributions of $250 or more.
8. If you claim a deduction of more than $500 for all contributed property, you must attach IRS Form 8283, Noncash Charitable Contributions, to your return.
9. Taxpayers donating an item or a group of similar items valued at more than $5,000 must also complete Section B of Form 8283, which requires an appraisal by a qualified appraiser.
10. Contributions made for relief efforts in a Midwest disaster area receive special benefits. For more information, see Publication 4492-B, Information for Affected Taxpayers in the Midwest Disaster Areas.

IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers are your source for personal tax help when you believe your tax issue cannot be handled online or by phone, and you want face-to-face tax assistance.

Here are nine reasons to visit an IRS TAC.

1. Face-to-Face Assistance No appointment is necessary — just walk in.
2. Multilingual Assistance Don’t let a language barrier prevent you from getting the face-to-face tax assistance you may need. Multilingual services are offered to taxpayers in over 150 languages. These services are provided through bilingual employees and an Over-the-Phone Interpreter.
3. Free Federal Tax Return Preparation Your local TAC will prepare basic tax returns for those who qualify for EITC or those whose income is less than $42,000. Visit your TAC for an appointment.
4. Form 2290, Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return Your local TAC can help you prepare Form 2290, accept your payment and provide the needed receipts for you to take when registering your vehicle.
5. Individual Taxpayer Identification Number If you are not eligible for a Social Security Number but need to file a tax return, bring the completed tax return, Form W7 and certified identification documents to your local TAC to apply for your ITIN and file your return. For more information, see Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.
6. Alien Clearances Before leaving the United States, most aliens must obtain a certificate of tax compliance. This document, also popularly known as the sailing permit or departure permit, must be secured from the IRS before leaving the U.S. You can get the permit from your local TAC. For more information, see Publication 513, Tax Information for Visitors to the United States.
7. Payments You can make payments at your local IRS TAC. Be sure you know the tax period and type of tax the payment is for. If you received a notice from the IRS, be sure to bring it with you.
8. Tax Forms Do you need tax forms? If so, most forms are available at your local TAC.
9. Tax Return and Tax Account Transcripts Do you need a copy of your tax return for financial aid or to obtain a mortgage? If so, a tax return or tax account transcript will generally meet the requirements of these lending institutions. Visit your local TAC for free transcripts, which are generally available for the current and past three years.