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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Phyllis Anderson
Thursday, February 29, 1996 Kelly Paisley
202-632-0150

VICE PRESIDENT GORE AND FRIENDS STAR LISA KUDROW
RELEASE PSA ON NEW WAY TO FILE TAXES OVER THE TELEPHONE

Actress Kudrow Of NBC Comedy Hit Friends Says It's 'Cool' To File By Phone

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Vice President Al Gore and actress Lisa Kudrow, "Phoebe" of the top-rated NBC comedy series Friends, today (2/29) released a public service announcement to help educate citizens about a new faster and easier way to file federal income taxes -- over the telephone. The videotaped public service announcement will be sent via satellite to television stations nationwide.

"For the first time, Americans who file the 1040EZ form to pay their federal income taxes may now do so over the telephone. Paying taxes doesn't get any easier than this," said Vice President Gore, who heads the National Performance Review to make the government work better and cost less. "Filing by telephone significantly reduces the time and hassle of reporting taxes. It is a good example of how the federal government can be more efficient and responsive to the needs of the people it serves."

The Internal Revenue Service announced last December its new national, paperless, 24-hour, seven-days-per-week, file-by-phone TeleFile system in both English and Spanish. This completely automated way to file an individual federal income tax return will be available to about 23 million Americans. As of February 22, 1996, the IRS had accepted more than two million returns through its TeleFile system.

The TeleFile system is toll free and must be done from a touch-tone phone. No personal contact is required when using the TeleFile system and the IRS automatically calculates the taxpayer's refund or amount due. The TeleFile system is available to taxpayers who received a TeleFile tax booklet in the mail, have no change in name or address, and earned less than $50,000 last year. For questions not already answered in the TeleFile tax booklet, the public may contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040.

In the public service announcement, Vice President Gore tells Friends star Kudrow that using the TeleFile system allows a taxpayer to get a refund within three weeks. Kudrow responds, "It's cool to file your taxes by phone. I'm going to tell my friends."