Powers of Deduction : Volunteer Tax Experts Come to the Rescue of Those in Need

Her mind reeling from confusing tax forms--W-2s, 1040s, 540EZs and 1099Rs--Terri Grando did what any number-phobic person would do this tax season.

She handed over her stack of forms, receipts and instructions to an expert.

But this year, instead of paying an accountant $50 or more, the Thousand Oaks resident took her tax forms to the city’s Goebel Senior Center--one of about 27 sites across the county where volunteers are helping prepare simple tax returns for free.

“He’s a good man,” she said of her former accountant. “But I needed something where I could save a few bucks.”

The sites, scattered from Ojai to Thousand Oaks, are staffed by more than 150 volunteers--many of them retired accountants--who are specially trained by the IRS each year to dish out advice and aid the elderly and the poor with their tax returns.

They aim to help those with low incomes, which is anything below about $35,000, said Norman Glowienke, a volunteer coordinator at the Goebel Senior Center.

Last year, the IRS-sponsored programs--Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly--helped prepare nearly 5,000 tax returns in Ventura County.

Situated in senior centers, churches, shopping malls, libraries and schools, the makeshift tax counseling centers attract everyone from senior citizens on fixed incomes to college students and recent immigrants newly initiated to the joys of paying U. S. taxes.

In addition to their low incomes, they have one thing in common: their fear of forms and the dreaded April 15 deadline.

“I’m real lost with this kind of thing,” said Monica B. Medrano, a 19-year-old new mother claiming a dependent on her taxes for the first time. “It’s like being thrown out there to the wolves. I don’t know what to do.”

Medrano is one of many coming to the Oxnard tax clinic who may be eligible for an earned income tax credit--a tax break for the working poor--but don’t know it.

“Most of the tax returns we do are fairly simple,” said William Tom, a Ventura College computer science instructor who volunteers at the Oxnard Public Library. “But a lot of people don’t know what types of [deductions] they are eligible for.”

Without tax counseling, some people may botch their returns, or unwittingly turn to inexperienced friends and fly-by-night tax preparers, said Bob Correa, the local area manager for the volunteer IRS program.

By claiming false deductions, con artists yield hefty returns, keeping much of the money for themselves, Correa said.

Lynn Zeigler of Thousand Oaks said she began going to the volunteer tax counselors after making a mistake doing her taxes that cost her plenty.

“It’s really calming to have them handling the IRS,” she said. “They are like a big, scary monster for most of us.”

Volunteers agree that most use the service to avoid the nightmare of going it alone.

“People need me,” said Carl Derossett, a retired computer engineer who volunteers at the Oxnard Library. “[They] are scared to death to look at a form, let alone fill it out. They are afraid if they don’t turn it in right, they are going to jail. We take care of that.”

James Kinsley, IRS taxpayer education coordinator for Central California, said the IRS is working on expanding its services in Ventura County.

Most volunteers rely on old-fashioned pencil and paper to calculate each return. At the Oxnard Library, volunteers sandwich carbon sheets between forms to provide copies to their clients.

But volunteers at the Point Mugu and Port Hueneme Navy bases--open to employees only--already file forms electronically, and plans are underway to create electronic filing centers at Oxnard and Ventura colleges, Kinsley said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Free Tax Services

For information on the IRS volunteer tax preparation site near you, call 486-4725. Other free services include:

* A special “Midnight Madness” tax preparation workshop at the IRS Oxnard office, 2500 Financial Square, on April 15. Volunteers will help file returns and extensions from 5 p.m. until midnight, the postmark deadline for tax returns.

* A 24-hour hotline at (800) 338-0505, which is sponsored by the California State Franchise Tax Board. Operators will answer questions on state and federal taxes. Tax forms can also be obtained by calling between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

* State income tax forms for 1994 and 1995 can be downloaded from the State Franchise Tax Board’s home page on the Internet at https://www.ftb.ca.gov. The site also includes answers to the most frequently asked state tax questions.