WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced the opening of the 2015 Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) grant application process.

The LITC grant program is a federal program administered by the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate at the IRS, led by National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. The LITC program awards matching grants of up to $100,000 per year to qualifying organizations to develop, expand or maintain a low income taxpayer clinic. The LITC program funds organizations to represent, advocate, and educate low income individuals who have a tax dispute with the IRS (i.e., a “controversy clinic”) and taxpayers who speak English as a second language (an “ESL clinic”). Although LITCs receive partial funding from the IRS, LITCs, their employees and their volunteers operate independently from the IRS. Examples of qualifying organizations include:

• Clinical programs at accredited law, business or accounting schools whose students represent low income taxpayers in tax disputes with the IRS; and
• Organizations exempt from tax under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(a) that represent low income taxpayers in tax disputes with the IRS or refer those taxpayers to qualified representatives, or that provide outreach and education for ESL taxpayers.

The IRS welcomes all applications and will ensure that each application receives full consideration. The IRS is particularly interested in receiving applications from organizations that will operate in areas that are currently underserved.

Currently underserved areas are as follows:

Copies of the 2015 Grant Application Package and Guidelines, IRS Publication 3319, can be downloaded from IRS.gov or ordered by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

The IRS is authorized to award a multi-year grant not to exceed three years. For a new clinic or a clinic applying for the first year of a three-year grant, the clinic must submit the application electronically at www.grants.gov. For an existing clinic requesting funding for the second or third year of a multi-year grant, the clinic must submit the application electronically at www.grantsolutions.gov. All applicants must use the funding number of TREAS-GRANTS-052015-001 and applications must be submitted electronically by June 20, 2014.

Questions about the LITC Program or grant application process can be addressed to the LITC Program Office at 202-317-4700 (not a toll-free call) or by email at LITCProgramOffice@irs.gov.

More information about LITCs and the work they do to represent, educate, and advocate on behalf of low income taxpayers and a listing of 2014 funded programs is available in IRS Publication 5066, the LITC Program Report.

Do you own or run a business? If so, do you know the IRS offers special tax help just for you? For example, the IRS will host two free live webinars to mark National Small Business Week, May 12 – 16. In addition, you can get many products and services for small businesses throughout the year on IRS.gov.

Here are some details about the free webinars:

Tues. May 13: “Payments to Independent Contractors.” Topics include:

• Payments to Independent Contractors
• Form 1099 filing requirements
• Backup withholding and how to avoid being liable for it
• CP 2100 Notices for payee name and TIN mismatches

Thurs. May 15: “Avoiding the Biggest Tax Mistakes.” Topics include:

• Learn about the biggest tax mistakes and how to avoid them
• How to detect common tax schemes and unscrupulous tax preparers

The popular events will start at 2 p.m. (ET) and will run for one hour. Both will offer live Q&A sessions with IRS experts. To register and to find out more visit the Webinars for Small Businesses page on IRS.gov.

The IRS offers many tools and services for you to use on IRS.gov. They can help you comply with the tax laws and avoid tax problems. Here are three pages that you can check out 24/7:

• The Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center is your complete tax resource. For example, you can link to a list of free workshops and events offered in your area. Or visit the IRS Video Portal to watch videos on a wide range of topics, including prior live webinars.
• The Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center is for sole proprietors and others who are in business for themselves. This site has many useful tips and references to the tax rules that a self-employed person may need to know.
• The Online Learning and Educational Products page has tools that can help you learn about taxes on your own time, and at your own pace. For example, the IRS Tax Calendar for Businesses and Self-Employed has important tax dates for your business. You can download the CalendarConnector tool and get the dates on your desktop, even when you’re offline.

Visit IRS.gov to get small business forms and publications. You can also call 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676) to get them by mail.