Has anyone heard if the IRS is planning to publish Publication 571 for use in preparing 2000 tax returns? The most recent version available on their web site is the 1999 version.

Thanks!

Michael, last conversation I had w/Employee Plans staffers, the plan was, indeed, to redo pub. 571 for 2000 returns; however, the plan was also to make it less confusing - recognition of the fact that it needs to be improved. Perhaps that has delayed completion. I'll check again - and share if there is anything new. Perhaps one of our other readers knows?

The IRS is planning to issue publication 571 "sometime this summer"; however, will no longer tie it to specific tax return years. They plan to change it totally to an informational publication - goal is to make it better which would be welcomed!

The IRS has issueded a new version. It's available on the IRS' website.

It is a significant improvement over previous editions. The IRS did a good job of making the information more understandable.

The bad news is that it comes out within 6 months of the exclusion allowance's demise, so it will have to be revised again soon. But, in the meantime, there is lots of "non-MEA" stuff that is worth reading.

For anyone who is interested, the new version of Publication 571 (issued June 2001) can be viewed by clicking on this link. It is not yet available as a Web page, just as a pdf file, so you will need to have the Adobe Acrobat reader (a free download) to read or print it.

For those whose browsers can't handle pdf, or who just prefer not to download large pdf files, Publication 571 is now available as a standard Web page. You can get to it by clicking here. Of course, the usefulness of this publication is somewhat limited by the fact that it does not include the EGTRRA changes effective in 2002. It does, however, include the EGTRRA changes that were effective for 2000 and 2001.