February 16th, 2008 Brian Herzog
Not every reference question I am asked is one that I can answer. This is one of those.
Perhaps the very nature of a small public library prevents librarians like me from being experts in any given field - since we have to respond to questions on any possible topic, it helps to know a little about a lot of areas rather than a lot about a single area. Specialists work in academic and large public libraries, and generalists end up in smaller libraries.
But that’s not to say that a librarian won’t know quite a bit about an area they are interested in. Coworkers of mine could easily specialize in linguistics, pop culture, cooking and modern fiction. Hiking, conspiracy theories, knitting and dystopian novels are some of the particular holes I’ve dug for myself.
At least, those are all the excuses I can think of for my behavior with this reference question.
A patron sends the following email to our reference desk:
To: Chelmsford Library Reference
Subject: Corporate Tax Rate
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am living in Kuwait and for study purpose I have a 2 US Corporate tax related questions.
A US-Based Company (Domestic Company) have its operations in Foreign Country what tax is levied on this company?
If this domestic company is acquired by a foreign company (and domestic company is still operating in another foreign country)….what will be tax rate implied for that foreign country?
Hope You answer my question
Here’s why I answered this question the way I did:
- Although we help anyone who comes in, calls, or emails us, we do give priority to local patrons. He didn’t say he was a local resident who just happened to be abroad, and I didn’t see his name in our catalog. I honestly have no idea how he found our email address from Kuwait, and that makes me suspicious and reluctant to spend a lot of time on this
- He did mention that he is there for study, and I’m always hesitant with students: the line between helping them do their work and doing their work for them is often blurry. I try to err on the side of less help to start with, but keep checking in to see if they are on the right track
- This is a tax question (and a very specific one), and we have a policy against giving tax advice. Especially with such a specific question, unless you get an answer from a specialist, it’s hard to know how much to trust the answer
So, with all that in mind, my reply back to him is below. I knew I wasn’t giving him an answer, but I wanted to at least direct him to some resources that might lead him to an answer:
To: [patron]
Subject: Re: Corporate Tax Rate
I’m sorry, but specific tax questions are beyond our expertise here, and also violates our policy against giving tax advice. I did try looking into your request, and found the Internal Revenue Service’s International Business page (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/international/), which may lead to the answers you seek.
The IRS also has an office in Philadelphia, PA, USA, that focuses on international issues. Their contact information is listed on http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/article/0,,id=101292,00.html
In addition, the IRS has technical support for its website, which should aide you in locating the information on their website that will answer your questions: http://www.irs.gov/help/article/0,,id=97185,00.html
Another potential resource for you to contact is the United States Embassy in Kuwait (http://kuwait.usembassy.gov/), which may have an office to help with your questions, or be able to direct you to the government agency that can answer them.
I’m sorry we are not able to answer your questions directly, but I hope some of the above information might help you. If there is anything else we can do, please let us know. Thank you, and take care.
Brian Herzog
Head of Reference
Chelmsford Public Library
This feels like such a cop out, and I feel bad I couldn’t come up with a real answer, but this seems like the kind of question someone could spend days researching and still find nothing. The patron did reply with a very polite and gracious thank-you message, but I haven’t heard back if he found what he was looking for.
If anyone knows of resource that can answer this, I would appreciate hearing about it.
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Posted under Library, Reference Question, Service | 4 Comments »
January 5th, 2008 Brian Herzog
By far, this was the most frequently-asked question this week:
Hey, you got any tax forms yet?
Why yes, we do.
Since last year’s display worked so well, I did the same thing again. We’ve been receiving tax forms since about November, but my library just got big ones last week - the 1040s, Publication 17, and the State forms.
I don’t know if there is any hard and fast rule as to when libraries can put out tax forms, but since patrons have asked me about ten times every hour all week, I decided today was the day.
Also like last year, as part of our tax assistance offerings, we plan to have an AARP Tax-Aide volunteer again, but that hasn’t been scheduled yet. Better him giving tax advice than library staff.
I guess the only surprise this year was the fancy new cover for the 1040 instruction booklets. It certainly looks nice, but I wonder how many thousands of tax dollars went into designing and producing that.
Happy tax season to all.
form, forms, irs, libraries, library, public, tax, tax forms, taxes
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Posted under Library, Reference Question | No Comments »
December 8th, 2007 Brian Herzog
This reference question is a bit self-serving, but…
A patron called my library’s Director and said she wanted to donate money to the library. However, she said she could only donate to 501(c)(3) organizations.
My library is a department of the Town’s municipal government, and has a trust fund, but our Board of Trustees had voted not to apply for 501(c)(3) status, as it is a tremendous amount of paperwork.
So, my Director asked me to find some kind of documentation stating that this patron could in fact donate the money to the library, and still write it off as a donation.
The first thing I tried was a Google search of the IRS website for “municipal donation site:irs.gov.” Among the matches were the IRS’ Publication 17 [pdf], Your Federal Income Tax, and their Publication 526 [pdf], Charitable Contributions.
In Pub 526 (page 2), I found the following to answer the question (emphasis added):
…You can deduct your contributions only if you make them to a qualified organization…
Types of Qualified Organizations
Generally, only the five following types of organizations can be qualified organizations.
1. A community chest, corporation, trust, fund, or foundation organized or created in or under the laws of the United States, any state, the District of Columbia, or any possession of the United States (including Puerto Rico). It must be organized and operated only for one or more of the following purposes.
- Religious.
- Charitable.
- Educational.
- Scientific.
- Literary.
- The prevention of cruelty to children or animals…
Even though that seemed to qualify us for the donation, I wanted to find a more definite answer. We still have a reference copy from of Pub 17 from last tax season, so I consulted that and found on page 150:
Deductible As Charitable Contributions
Money or property you give to:
- …
- Federal, state, and local governments, if contribution is solely for public purposes (for example, a gift to reduce the public debt)
- …
Okay, “local government…for public purposes” - that’s pretty clear. I still maintain that librarians should never give tax advice, but I copied that and gave it to my Director.
And since I enjoy reading the tax code as much as the next person, I read on, and was rewarded with this gem:
You cannot deduct contributions to organizations that are not qualified to receive tax-deductible contributions, including the following.
- Certain state bar associations…
- Chambers of commerce and other business leagues or organizations.
- Civic leagues and associations.
- Communist organizations.
- Country clubs and other social clubs.
- Foreign organizations…
- Homeowners’ associations.
- Labor unions…
- Political organizations and candidates.
The one that caught my eye was “Communist organizations.” I thought it odd to single them out, especially since “Political organizations and candidates” is also listed. Commies can never catch a break.
charitable, communist, communists, contribution, contributions, donation, donations, irs, libraries, library, reference question, tax, taxes
Tags: charitable, communist, communists, contribution, contributions, donation, donations, irs, libraries, Library, Reference Question, tax, taxes See Also
Posted under Library, Reference Question | 1 Comment »
January 16th, 2007 Brian Herzog
Every year, public libraries (and, I’m sure, post offices, town halls, senior centers, and other public places) have the pleasure of being a distribution point for Federal and State tax forms.
Which is a good thing, but it can also be somewhat trying. In my experience, here are some popular misconceptions concerning libraries and tax forms:
- Libraries do not choose when or which forms to put out. The IRS and State Dept. of Revenue send us the forms over a period of about three months, and we put out whatever arrives
- Libraries do not create these forms - we really do have to wait until they are sent to us. If the form you need is not out, we haven’t received it yet (but keep reading)
- Library staff cannot give tax advice - even if you’re not sure of how to fill out your taxes, you can believe me when I say we are in no way qualified to help you file your taxes. I can help you find forms, or find someone who can help, but I cannot give you tax advice
- There are no more forms in the back - we’re not trying to hide anything from you, or save something for someone else. Everything we’ve received is available to the public
This year at my library, I’m trying something new with our tax form display. In years past, the tax forms were kept on empty bookshelves about as far away from the front door as you could get. This was messy and needlessly complicated.
This year, I bought a stand to hold the forms, set up a couple tables for the instruction booklets, and put everything right at the base of the stairs in the reference area (see photo). This is about 100 feet closer to the front door - and about as close as I can get while still being within range of the reference desk, so we can help people when they have questions. A small triumph.
Also, since we haven’t received every tax form published by the Federal and State governments, and can’t do patrons’ taxes for them, below are some tax resources we frequently use:
libraries, library, tax, tax display, tax forms, taxes
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November 21st, 2006 Brian Herzog
I’m going to be traveling for Thanksgiving, so I wanted to get this one in right away. Yesterday, 11/20/06 (yes, note the date: November 20th), a patron walked up to the desk and asks:
Patron: Do you have any tax forms yet?
Tax forms. It’s November, and this patron wants to work on filing his taxes already. Already. It’s November. At best, we don’t receive the forms from the IRS until January, and even that’s pushing it sometimes.
It’s bad enough that people are decorating for Christmas around Halloween (no kidding - I saw red and green Christmas lights up on Halloween night), but it’s not even close to tax time yet. Oh well, I guess the first request of the season had to come sometime.
patrons, reference question, tax season, taxes
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Posted under Library, Reference Question | 7 Comments »
