Voices

IRS Spotlights Recovery Credits on YouTube and iTunes

The IRS has been getting more high-tech of late, and just to show you how hip it’s become, the agency is now creating videos for YouTube and podcasts for iTunes about the tax credits in the stimulus package.

These aren’t the first videos from the IRS to pop up on YouTube, but now the service is making a special effort to call attention to the tax provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The IRS has launched both a special YouTube video site and an iTunes podcast site for the purpose. The videos, at www.youtube.com/irsvideos will highlight topics such as the first-time homebuyer’s credit, the sales or excise tax deduction for new car purchases and expanded credits for education and energy conservation. The videos will be in English, Spanish, American Sign Language and eventually other languages (Klingon?).

Initially, the channel will debut with seven videos in English and ASL and eight in Spanish. There's also a bonus video on using the IRS Withholding Calculator to determine whether adjustments need to be made in one’s tax withholding as a result of the Making Work Pay tax credit.

The podcasts about the ARRA tax credits are available on both iTunes and the IRS’s own multimedia center at IRS.gov, where they’re in both English and Spanish.

With iTunes, YouTube and a multimedia center, a Twitter page for the IRS can’t be too far away.

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