Smarter Utility

 

[March 13, 2007]

Dozens of locations offer free tax preparation, filing help

(Post-Crescent, The (Appleton, WI) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 11--MENASHA, Wis. -- Erika Tamayo got prompt help with her income tax preparation this week.

And a pleasant surprise besides: A refund in the offing.

"It'll go right into my checking account," said the 23-year-old Appleton woman, who works as a waitress.

Tamayo was waiting for volunteer tax preparers at Goodwill Industries to put the finishing touches on her e-filed return.

"They were very helpful. It was very quick," she said.

Tamayo was one of 850 taxpayers to have visited the combined VITA/ TCE (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance/Tax Consulting for the Elderly) site in recent weeks.

The sites and others like them offer tax preparation at no charge to low- and moderate-income people and elderly citizens. The service might be free, but the knowledge displayed by the people who put the returns through a series of double checks are anything but amateurs.


Ignorance is anything but bliss at tax preparation time.

Just ask Red Sievert, Grand Chute, one of the AARP Tax Aide volunteers poised to dig out tax breaks for seniors, like the too-often overlooked Homestead Credit rebate.

"Hundreds of thousands of dollars are left unclaimed in the state by those who can use it the most," he said.

Free assistance Tax Aide and VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) programs linked with the IRS are getting going strong. Taxpayers have an array of qualified tax preparers willing to assist them at sites that in many cases overlap for both programs.

Retiree Paul Link, 74, of Darboy, is a "floorwalker" who ushers taxpayers from place to place at Goodwill Industries.

Link is a seasoned hand in tax preparation, having worked in the accounting field before retirement and putting in seven years as a preparer with tax giant H&R Block after he left a local utility.

The Goodwill site helped 1,302 taxpayers last year. They're running a little off that pace this year -- 847 taxpayers had been assisted as of 10 days ago. But the pace will definitely rebound as April 17 and tax deadline |approaches.

"It's heavy in February, slows down in March then picks back up in April," said Link.

Tamayo found out just how popular the site was last month.

"The place was packed. There were 30 people ahead of me waiting when I came in at (1 p.m.)."

So she left. Last week, she returned, and found she has a refund coming.

So, too, did Sara Frechette, 36, of Appleton, who sought assistance at the Goodwill site for the first time.

"It's been great," she said. "It hasn't been a long wait."

The VITA sites are sanctioned by the Internal Revenue Service.

"The sites are really valuable," said Christopher Miller, the Milwaukee-based spokesman for the IRS.

The program, coupled with the TCE program in some locations around Wisconsin, offers free tax help to low and moderate-income people, generally $39,000 and below.

Many sites also offer electronic filing.

Skilled, trained preparers stand ready to ferret out whether taxpayers are entitled to an earned income tax credit that can reach as much as $4,536 per family.

"It's estimated up to 25 percent of the families eligible for this credit are not claiming it," Miller said.

More than 21.4 million taxpayers qualified for the credit around the country last year, including 295,000 in Wisconsin, he said.

The Tax Aide program provides free tax help for people 60 and older generally without regard to income and you needn't be an AARP member to receive assistance.

The Neenah and Menasha public libraries have been added to the list of preparation sites. That's because, in part, more volunteers have come forth to help.

And because more people need the assistance.

"I expect more will come. The babyboomers are starting to retire and they're not all wealthy," said Gene Sprague of Kimberly, coordinator of the AARP Tax Aide program in the Fox Valley.

E-filing is steadily growing and it's expected about 60 percent of all filers will go that route this year.

The IRS sends a confirmation that a return was received and many times refunds get to the recipients much faster.

The Wisconsin Free File system also affords benefits.

"You can log onto the Department of Revenue Web site and file your tax return basically free, right online. And they don't charge you a thing for it," said Cindy Hockenberry, tax information analyst for the National Association of Tax Professionals in Appleton.

One drawback? You have to know how to do it. "There's a difference between free tax help and free tax filing," she said.

The big e-file advantage? "You get your refund a lot faster. The IRS has Free File on their Web site, too. They provide software through private sector vendors."

But that raises another disadvantage: "They have limits on it -- the adjusted gross income is $52,000 or less in 2006," Hockenberry said.

"And a lot of these software providers that do the Free File on the IRS site Web site will charge you for a Wisconsin return because Wisconsin charges you nothing if you do it through them. This is just federal Free File."

FREE TAX HELP:

AARP Tax Aide program, Fox Valley Coordinator Gene Sprague, 920-733-7973; IRS media relations, Christopher Miller, 414-231-2828; Information on the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program can be found online at www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/|pcs/vita.html.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

No appointment is necessary most places, but you should prepare yourself to wait. Bring all 2006 income statements including W-2 forms, 1099 statements, Social Security forms, copies of 2005 state and federal returns. Also bring all tax forms received by mail.

ON THE WEB:

--Internal Revenue Service: www.irs.com

--Wisconsin Department of Revenue: www.revenue.wi.gov

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wis.
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