The start of the New Year means it’s time to think about filing your taxes for 2011. You’ll have to seek out the forms if you want to file your state taxes the old fashioned way. The Iowa Department of Revenue will stop sending out paper tax booklets for the first time this year. Department spokesperson, Victoria Daniels, says you can still get the paper forms, but you’ll have to call their office or stop by. Daniels says it’s a cost-savings step and she says about 85-percent of individual filers already file electronically. Since this is the first year they are not sending out tax booklets, Daniels says the department is expanding its telephone and e-mail customer service hours during the month of January.

“Now is the time when those books would be coming out and…if they haven’t heard already, they are probably wondering when am I going to get my book in the mail, and they’re not, but there are still ways to get the forms in the mail if they want the paper forms,” Daniels says. The e-mail and telephone hours for January are 7:30 a-m until five p-m.

“We just encourage people if you have questions to call, that is why we are here. We don’t prepare returns for people be we certainly are available to answer questions by telephone or by e-mail,” Daniels said. There are walk-in hours at their offices in Des Moines Monday through Friday from eight a-m until 4:30 p-m. Or you can go to the departments website at: www.iowa.gov/tax.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)