IRS tax forums stress simplicity.

In a continuing effort to make preparing business and individual tax returns easier and less costly, the Internal Revenue Service will present a tax forum and exhibition on September 19-20 in Salt Lake City.

One session will describe the IRS's plans to change the way it processes taxpayer returns. Over the next seven years, the IRS expects to receive more information electronically and will reduce the number of its return-processing centers from 10 to 5. These sites will receive, control and process paper returns and resolve errors that do not require taxpayer contact.

New conference sessions will describe the proposed Wage Simplification Project, cosponsored by the IRS, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Labor. The project would allow employers to file one set of employee information (for tax, unemployment and Social Security purposes) at a central location, which then would pass the data along, as needed, to other government agencies.

The IRS's new Corporate Tax Program will be discussed at another session, which will cover developments such as its joint planning process with large corporate taxpayers. There also will be an overview of the earned income tax credit payment option.

In past years, the focus of IRS tax forums was on electronic filing. This year, that topic still will be covered, but other sessions will address alternatives to electronic filing. TeleFile, for example, allows taxpayers to file returns by telephone; all they have to do is respond to a menu of choices. Currently, this service is limited to taxpayers filing 1040EZ forms. Another option to be featured is IRS form 1040PC, which is used with tax preparation software; with this option, only lines that have entries are printed on the form that is submitted.

"This year we've broadened the scope to show how the IRS is changing the way it does business," said Peggy Strunk, chief of the marketing section of the IRS Alternative Ways of Filing Office. "We've found this type of forum is a good avenue for getting the word out."

All seminars will be given by IRS personnel. The conference also will feature exhibits by vendors of computer software and taxrelated services.

To register, call the IRS 1994 Nationwide Tax Forum at [phone].