There are a lot of different methods to give back to the community, like donating money outright or working as a volunteer for charitable organisations.
However, have you ever given any thought to assisting other people, such as senior citizens and people with moderate incomes, in the process of filing their income tax returns?
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) are two programmes that will soon begin ramping up their efforts to recruit volunteers for the upcoming tax season.
The Internal Revenue Service and various partner agencies will soon begin increasing their recruitment efforts for these programmes.
The general public is not required to pay anything to receive assistance with tax preparation from either of these programmes, which both feature electronic filing for increased safety and quicker refunds.
Jim Simpson, who is in charge of supervising six tax-prep locations in Phoenix and Scottsdale, said that the recruitment of volunteers is ongoing, but it will kick into high gear in October.
Following Thanksgiving, training will begin, and it will be conducted by the partner organisations rather than the IRS.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is one of the partner agencies, along with several churches, credit unions, large corporations, and nonprofit organisations, especially those whose primary mission is to provide human services.
At tens of thousands of libraries, community centres, colleges, and other public venues around the United States, volunteers offer face-to-face assistance with tax preparation.
People can save money on the fees associated with tax preparation and avoid the stress of completing their taxes on their own thanks to these solutions. A significant number of the volunteers have expressed that they find the work to be fulfilling.
“Some taxpayers are very appreciative and want to offer us tips, which we cannot accept,” said Gene Gieseking, a return preparer in the Phoenix area who also teaches other volunteers the fundamentals of taxation for them to pass an IRS certification test. Gieseking also teaches taxpayers in the Phoenix area how to pass an IRS certification test.
Some appreciative taxpayers will bring in baked goods such as cookies or bagels for the volunteers. “However, the vast majority of the time, all they have are kind words of appreciation,” he explained.
Although this is true of volunteering in general and not just with tax-related work specifically, Simpson cites research that indicates people who volunteer, especially seniors, often enjoy better physical and mental health. This is true of people who volunteer in any capacity.
Part-Time Help Needed
Although they make up a significant portion of VITA/TCE volunteers, retirees are not the only people who donate their time to the organisation.
After 30 years of service as a schoolteacher, Gieseking took early retirement in 2006. Because he and his wife Saundra enjoy going on adventures, they didn’t want to overbook their schedules with a lot of different responsibilities.
During the tax season (January–April), they each donate an average of eight hours per week of their time as volunteers. According to what he had to say, “We see and hear how the VITA programme affects so many taxpayers.”
A lot of people who pay taxes are relieved that they don’t have to pay for the service. According to Gieseking, “They really like it when we explain how their taxes are set and what they can do to manage for their financial future.”
Earlier on in this year, in Scottsdale, volunteer Valerie Edwards from VITA/TCE assists Erika Cooper with her income tax return. Erika Cooper is on the right.
Another retired individual in the Phoenix area who helps prepare tax returns as a volunteer has expertise in explaining the different Medicare options. Adele Phelan. She concurred with the observation that the vast majority of customers appear content with the assistance they receive.
“The majority of the customers we serve are quite grateful for the service, and they have a strong propensity to return year after year,” she stated.
The VITA/TCE volunteer portion of the irs.gov website provides prospective volunteers with further information, including an application form, as well as access to the area.
Only a select few taxpayers are eligible for no-cost assistance.
Having said that, the VITA and TCE programmes don’t receive nearly as much attention from the public as they probably should.
During the most recent tax season, more than 2.1 million individual tax returns were submitted with the assistance of 57,000 volunteers at more than 9,000 VITA/TCE locations.
However, that only accounts for around 1.3% of the nearly 160 million individual tax returns that are submitted to the federal government each year. In addition, the program’s volunteer participants assist with the preparation and submission of state tax forms.
Persons with an annual income of less than $58,000, people who struggle with the English language, and people who are disabled are the primary target demographic for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programme.
People aged 60 and older are targeted by the TCE programme, which places a greater emphasis on retirement-related themes such as Medicare and the reporting of income from pensions.
Participating in volunteer work as a tax expert is not a prerequisite. Gieseking stated that even though he had prepared and filed his own forms for several years, he was only moderately knowledgeable about taxes when he first started volunteering. Since that time, he has gained sufficient knowledge to share it with others.
In a similar vein, Phelan, a resident of Scottsdale, stated that before to beginning the class, she had no prior experience in the field of taxes. However, she believes that volunteers must have a passion for interacting with members of the public even though prior knowledge of taxes is not required.
“A test is required so that we can represent ourselves as IRS-certified,” said Simpson, a certified public accountant who runs a partner organisation called Masters of Coin. Simpson is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He went on to say that the curriculum does a good job of preparing volunteers to succeed on the test.
The time commitment doesn’t need to be extremely onerous. Phelan recommends that those interested in volunteering with the organisation plan on working anywhere from four to eight hours each week throughout the tax return filing season.
She stated that the majority of the assistance, which includes visiting with customers, performing preparation work, undergoing quality assessments, and receiving signatures from taxpayers, takes approximately one hour for each client. A second volunteer checks the accuracy of each and every return that is submitted.
Based on a recent, albeit limited, sampling, the Internal Revenue Service has indicated that it is pleased with the level of work that has been completed within the programme.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, after reviewing 28 returns that were written by volunteers, they discovered that 27 of them were accurate. During a particularly challenging tax season, the organisation praised the work of the volunteers as an “amazing success.”
The programmes are looking for volunteers to fill a variety of roles, including those who will conduct client interviews and file tax forms. These may involve checking tax forms for accuracy, assisting taxpayers with computer problems, interpreting for people speaking a foreign language, or greeting taxpayers in that language.
Read more:-
- Stranger Things Season 5 Release Date: How Many Episodes Does Season 5 Have?
- Severance Season 2 Release Date: Is It Inspired by a Book?
- Connecticut Provides a Stimulus: The Second Sales Tax-Free Week Begins on Sunday
According to Gieseking, the individuals who have the least amount of experience with computers are the ones that typically struggle the most with the tax lesson. According to what he had mentioned, “We generally recruit them to be greeters at the various venues.”
