Get tax updates with IRS’ new mobile app

This week, the Internal Revenue Service unveiled its first smart-phone application. With the free app IRS2Go, available at the Apple App Store or on the Android Marketplace, taxpayers can check the status of their tax refund and obtain helpful tax information.

“This new smart phone app reflects our commitment to modernizing the agency and engaging taxpayers where they want when they want it,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman in a news release from the IRS. “As technology evolves and younger taxpayers get their information in new ways, we will keep innovating to make it easy for all taxpayers to access helpful information.”

The mobile app, among a handful in the federal government, offers a number of safe and secure ways to help taxpayers. With the first release of the IRS2Go app you can:

1) Get your federal refund status with a few basic pieces of information. First, taxpayers enter a Social Security number, which is masked and encrypted for security purposes. Next, taxpayers pick the filing status they used on their tax return. Finally, taxpayers enter the amount of the refund they expect from their 2010 tax return. For people who e-file, the refund function of the phone app will work within about 72 hours after taxpayers receive an e-mail acknowledgement saying the IRS received their tax return. The processing time is longer for those who file paper tax returns. About 70 percent of the 142 million individual tax returns were filed electronic last year.

2) Get tax updates. Phone app users enter their e-mail address to automatically get daily tax tips. Tax Tips are simple, straightforward tips and reminders to help with tax planning and preparation. Tax Tips are issued daily during the tax filing season and periodically during the rest of the year. The plain English updates cover topics such as free tax help, child tax credits, the Earned Income Tax Credit, education credits and other topics.

3) Follow the IRS through the Twitter news feed @IRSnews. Learn about tax law changes and important IRS programs.

“This phone app is a first step for us,” Shulman said. “We will look for additional ways to expand and refine our use of smartphones and other new technologies to help meet the needs of taxpayers.”

~ Lillie-Beth Brinkman (lbrinkman@opubco.com)

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