By ANGELO J. VERZONI

Staff Writer

BIDDEFORD — Tax season started last week, and it can be difficult to wade through all the forms.

During tax seasons past, the MacArthur Public Library offered free tax forms and instruction booklets for those who needed them, but due to federal budget cuts the Internal Revenue Service has stopped providing the city’s library ­”“ and libraries nationwide, for that matter ”“ with many of these documents.

The cuts have already had an impact on residents trying to file their taxes for 2014, which must be done by April 15, Jeff Cabral, the director of the MacArthur Library, said Monday morning.

Cabral explained that even in the past it was hard to predict which forms the library would and would not receive.

“Every year the amount of forms we get or can’t get seems to change, and it’s frustrating for patrons,” he said. “We do our best to bring in as many forms as we can.”

Each year, from January through April, the library gets inundated with questions concerning taxes, said Cabral, and historically, it has been able to provide most or at least some of the forms people are looking for. But this year will be especially difficult, he said, given the IRS’s recent changes.

“This year’s going to be particularly difficult because of what the federal government has done,” said Cabral.

The MacArthur Library will receive just three tax forms this season ”“ the fewest Cabral can recall in recent years. It will receive the 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ, but no other tax forms or any of the instruction booklets.

For folks in the city seeking tax help, the Biddeford Recreation Department will allow the AARP to hold tax-assistance sessions from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, starting Feb. 5 and running through April 9, at the Ross Center, at 189 Alfred St., Brian Dunphe, the department’s adult and outdoor program coordinator, said on Monday.

“We are hosting a space for AARP to run a program that helps people fill out tax forms,” he said. Dunphe added that the sessions are held on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Cabral said the IRS’s newly instated policy is likely a way to get more citizens to download tax documents online; federal tax documents can be found at IRS.gov, while state tax documents can be found at Maine.gov. Although filing taxes via the Web may sound quick and easy to some, Cabral said there are many who will still need the library’s assistance to do so.

For this reason, Cabral said the library will allow patrons to photocopy or print up to 10 pages of tax forms for free this season. The MacArthur Library doesn’t typically allow free printing, he said, but “it’s our way to mitigate the damage the federal government has done,” and as printer ink and toner are anything but cheap, the changes will take a toll financially on the nonprofit.

“It’s sadly another example of the government passing along costs to other organizations that can’t necessarily afford them,” said Cabral. “We’re sort of at the mercy of the federal government here.”

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].