By Katy Stewart
As the day for filing income tax returns approaches, Lexington residents who can afford it may take advantage of professional tax preparers. But others will use free services such as AARP’s free tax clinic.
Gary Swink, office manager at the Lexington branch of H&R Block, said a paid tax preparation service can help determine what credits a client may receive. Swink says his branch, which employs 13 preparers, has already processed about 90 percent of the returns they expect to see this year.
“We start getting paperwork soon after the first of the year,” he said.
But for lower income taxpayers, paying a professional might not be an option.
Ed Claiborn volunteers at the local branch of the AARP’s nationwide Tax Aide program, a free tax return preparation service funded by the AARP Foundation and the Internal Revenue Service. The program is geared toward senior citizens and low- and middle-income groups, but Claiborn said no one is turned away who needs help.
Claiborn, who has volunteered with the AARP program for 12 years, is part of a team of six that helps clients prepare and file the appropriate forms. He said he sees a lot of the same clients year after year.
“Once people find out about this program, they realize it’s a very efficient way to take care of their taxes,” he said. “We save people a lot of money.”
The team started assisting clients the first week in February and expects to work up to April 17, the deadline this year. Taxpayers have an extra two days to file because April 15, the customary deadline, falls on a Sunday and April 16 is Emancipation Day, a holiday observed in the District of Columbia. The branch at Rockbridge Regional Library has already assisted about 200 people this year, and Claiborn said he expects to see a surge of people in the next few weeks. He said he thinks the total will get close to 300.
“People can’t put it off any longer,” he said. “They’ll be here even on Monday the 16th.”
Clients typically make one-hour appointments with the volunteer preparers to work through filing forms and submitting them online.
Volunteers are not required to have backgrounds in finance. But Claiborn, a retired economics professor, said all of the volunteers have some experience dealing with data.
To stay abreast of changes in the tax code, volunteers at the AARP program must take courses every year before they can work with clients. The refresher course is funded by the joint sponsorship agreement with the AARP Foundation, a charitable organization distinct from the AARP lobbying group, and the IRS.
Swink said that while the code changes every year, there aren’t nearly as many changes this year as in the past.
The program allows volunteers to assist only with personal income tax return forms, not business returns. They deal largely with taxes on wages, retirement, social security and investments. Claiborn said that if he can’t help, he recommends other options, but does not endorse one paid preparer over the other.
He does suggest another free tax aide program in town, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, run by Washington and Lee University law students.
“If we can’t help, they might be able to,” he said.
The W&L program helps clients who earn less than $50,000 annually. Last year students helped local taxpayers prepare and file about 85 income tax returns.