QUESTION: Since the IRS doesn’t mail tax forms anymore, I’ve been going to Aiea Library to pick up forms. However, I was informed that they won’t be having the federal forms this year. I hesitate to go into town at the tax office to get them as parking is very limited. Could you tell me where we can pick up federal forms without going into town? It would be great for other seniors, too, if there’s a place near Aiea to get the tax forms.

ANSWER: The Pearl City Public Library, at 1138 Waimano Home Road, is the closest library to Aiea with copies of the most requested federal tax forms, said Paul Mark, spokesman for the Hawaii State Public Library System.

But if you are willing to pay for copies of the federal tax forms, you can do so at the Aiea library.

While federal forms are available at most public libraries, on Oahu the Aiea and the Salt Lake-Moanalua libraries are offering only reproducible copies.

That means you have to make copies of the available master forms.

This will vary at libraries, but there basically are two ways to make copies of the federal tax forms, Mark said:

» Sign up to use a library Internet computer.

Go to the IRS website www.irs.gov/Forms-&-Pubs, print out the form and make a volunteer donation of 15 cents per page for the library at the circulation desk.

» Go to the library copy machine and make copies at 20 cents per page.

To find out which public libraries are serving as distribution outlets for federal tax forms and booklets, go to the Hawaii State Public Library System website at is.gd/7e9kxf.

Not all IRS publications are available at each library, so you are advised to call first to find out what’s in stock.

You also may get tax forms by going to irs.gov and downloading the forms (click on "Forms and Pubs"); by calling 800-829-3676; or by going to an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center (on Oahu, in the federal building at 300 Ala Moana Blvd.).

For more information, go to www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/Four-Ways-to-Get-IRS-Forms-Publications.

The IRS encourages taxpayers to file electronically as the "safest, fastest and easiest way" to file. It says more than 80 percent of taxpayers now e-file.

Although library staff will distribute tax forms, be advised that they are not trained to answer tax questions.

Meanwhile, public libraries also are serving as distribution sites for state tax forms.

State tax forms can be downloaded from the state Department of Taxation’s website at tax.hawaii.gov/forms. For more information, call the department at 587-4242 (neighbor islands, call toll-free 800-222-3229) or go to tax.hawaii.gov.

QUESTION: I live on Aoloa Place in Kailua, which intersects with Aoloa Street. The street has some signs indicating it is a "private" street. There are stop signs and pedestrian crosswalks at the three corners where Aoloa Place intersects with Aoloa Street. Drivers routinely ignore the stop signs and often don’t even slow down, day and night. I worry about my fellow residents in the area who use the intersection regularly: kids, seniors and everybody in between. Can police patrol the area and ticket these lawbreakers even though the street is "private"?

ANSWER: According to the Honolulu Police Department, the answer is "no." 

HPD cannot issue citations on private roadways, said Capt. Dagan Tsuchida of HPD’s District 4 (Windward Oahu). On private property, owners sometimes put up their own stop signs, usually blue ones, but these are not official City and County of Honolulu signs, he said.

MAHALO

To the two good-looking young men who stopped on their way home to jump a chain-link fence and rock wall to alert us, our neighbors and the Honolulu Fire Department early Sunday morning, Jan. 26, of a fire on our property. Your parents must be so proud that they raised such quick-thinking, concerned and responsible sons. — G. & P.S.

Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser,  7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.