AARP, VITA offer free tax return prep to seniors and others

Sharon Sapounas felt anxious recently when she went to the Westbury Memorial Public Library to get help filing her income tax returns.

“You get a little nervous wondering if you have to pay anything,” said the 69-year-old retired pharmacy technician from Westbury.

But after getting help from the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program, she was delighted to learn that she was due a federal refund of $1,399 — and that her income level would allow her to stop having taxes withheld from her monthly Social Security benefit.

“I’ll be getting more money back in my Social Security every month now, and I wouldn’t have known that if these kind people didn’t help me and tell me all these things,” Sapounas said, offering a reporter a high-five.

The Tax-Aide volunteers — and other experts associated with the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, called VITA — visit public locations across the nation from February through mid-April to help taxpayers with returns that are relatively uncomplicated. Help is available free of charge in person or online.

The Internal Revenue Service estimates 168 million individual tax returns will be filed this year, most of them before the April 18 deadline. In 2021, the latest year for which it could provide a figure, the IRS said nearly 2 million returns were filed through its VITA and Tax Counseling for the Elderly programs (the latter of which has limited availability on Long Island), aided by 52,874 volunteers. AARP said more than 1 million filers were assisted by 25,000 Tax-Aide volunteers that year.

AARP’s program aims to help taxpayers 50 and older, but it is available to people of any age or income; they need not be AARP members. VITA helps people who generally make $60,000 or less, individuals who have disabilities or those with limited English ability.

For volunteer Scott Rotker, 76, of Levittown, the tax service is busiest from December through mid-April. He has been with Tax-Aide for 15 years and is in his third year as a state coordinator. This year, he is managing 223 volunteers at 47 sites across Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau and Suffolk counties.

“It’s my job to make sure that all of my volunteers have the tools and the education they need to serve the public,” he said.

Rotker, a retired transportation manager for the Long Island Rail Road, said he got involved after seeing an ad for the service. After being trained and certified, and a few years as a tax preparer, he took on more responsibilities in working with fellow volunteers, most of whom are retirees.

“Probably the biggest plurality of all my volunteers used to be accountants, or they’re former IRS workers, agents,” he said. “We have some teachers, we have college professors, we have some businesspeople. .  .  . And we have one former lieutenant from the Port Authority police department.”

Volunteer training

The IRS requires that volunteers take classes — usually each fall and online — in tax law and procedure to ensure accuracy and maintain public trust. “Every volunteer, to be certified by the IRS, has to pass two or three tests at a minimum,” Rotker said. Returning volunteers get training each year to prepare them for changes in tax law and for recertification testing.

Diana Graham, 78, of Westbury, a former Medicare coordinator for Nassau County, and her husband, retired accountant Johnson Graham, 80, have been tax prep volunteers for more than 30 years. They work with both the AARP program and for the Town of Hempstead’s VITA service.

Diana Graham oversees AARP volunteers at libraries in Westbury, Hicksville, Oyster Bay and Glen Cove. On a recent Wednesday afternoon in Westbury, she worked with more than a half-dozen volunteers who wore long-sleeved gray shirts with the Tax-Aide logo. Volunteers sat with taxpayers at tables around a large room. Hushed businesslike give-and-take was punctuated by comments or laughs.

In practiced fashion, volunteers welcomed incoming tax filers and provided a form that explains which returns qualify for the service — usually straightforward reporting of income, noncash charitable contributions of up to $5,000, itemized deductions, and more. Individuals who require more complicated returns — such as those that involve rental income, self-employment with employees or business use of a home — were advised that they do not qualify and might need to seek professional preparation.

Screening also involved checking whether a taxpayer brought identification, income and dividend statements, and other documents.

After the filer’s data was entered on a computer, a second volunteer checked the work of the first. Then the returns were reviewed with the taxpayer before the big reveal — taxes owed or a refund due. If all was in order, the taxpayer signed the returns, which were electronically submitted to the IRS and New York State. The process typically takes an hour.

While many regard doing taxes as drudgery, Diana Graham sees her service as a valuable contribution.

Years ago, a professor at New York University complimented her understanding of tax law. “So I guess he was the one who did this to me,” she said. “I got my degree in accounting, and I did well in my tax course. I like it. Since the gift of doing taxes is mine, I feel I should share it.”

In a separate process with Hempstead Town’s VITA program, her husband, Johnson, who worked in internal auditing and accounting at Stony Brook University, picks up tax documents that taxpayers leave for him in a secure place at the Roosevelt Public Library and takes them home to prepare returns. After Diana has checked his work, he meets face to face with the clients at the library to finish the process.

Roosevelt residents have been receptive to the service, he said. “They come back every year. Some people could not afford to pay a tax preparer.”

In fact, preparers said it’s common to see the same tax filers year after year.

Longtime relationships 

Adela Earley, 78, of Central Islip, has had her taxes done for free for more than a decade by Jessica Lucas, a community development relationship manager for Bethpage Federal Credit Union.

Bethpage is a major partner in the IRS VITA program on Long Island, facilitating more than 24,400 returns since 2004. In this tax season, 12 credit union employees are working with 56 student volunteers and 32 non-student volunteers at sites that include public libraries, as well as Touro Law Center in Central Islip and Stony Brook University. Some preparers also meet with taxpayers online or will provide guidance to use free tax-filing software. Participants do not need to be members of the credit union.

Earley said she always did her own taxes, but then she saw an offer for the free service. She met Lucas at the East Islip Public Library around 2011 and has gone back to her ever since.

Although still working for Bethpage, Lucas moved out of state during the pandemic. No problem. Earley now transmits images of her documents to Lucas and they meet via Zoom.

“She’s phenomenal,” Earley said of Lucas. “She’s up to date on what the IRS wants from us. .  .  . She explains everything.”

Friends now, their annual meeting also covers what’s new in their lives.

“Taxes are a very personal aspect of your life,” Lucas said. “So you learn a lot about people because you do have to ask more personal questions in terms of marriage status and children, you know, for tax purposes, in order to file the most advantageous, correct return for them.”

AARP’s Rotker emphasized that maintaining client privacy is mandatory and critical to maintain trust. For example, he said, the Tax-Aide Chromebook computers cannot retain data after returns are submitted.

From his own experience, Rotker knows the value of teaching his volunteers to ask relevant questions about taxpayers’ circumstances.

He recalled one elderly taxpayer who lived with a son who was 60 years old. Rotker said the father explained that his son was blind.

“The tax rules are that if a person is permanently disabled, he’s a dependent forever,” Rotker said. “By recognizing that the son is blind, it changed the man’s filing status from ‘single’ to ‘head of household,’ which brought $800 more a year in a refund.”

Rotker said he amended a few of the taxpayer’s past returns — and the man was thrilled. “So, he’s walking out of the library going, ‘Hey, I’m getting 2,400 bucks more!’  ”

Another of Rotker’s volunteers, Dom Raneri, 84, helps prepare tax returns at his hometown library in Merrick. He said some clients tell him they paid perhaps $150 to professional services in the past and are grateful to get their returns done for free.

“One senior couple,” Raneri said, “the man was reaching in his pocket to give me like a tip, you know? I said, ‘No, we can’t take that, we can’t take that, that’s not necessary.’ And he was chasing me through the library with the money. Finally, I told him, ‘Make a contribution to one of your charities.’  ”

As for Sharon Sapounas, she said she has plans for her refund: “I have two grandchildren, and they always like it when grandma comes over to take them shopping!”