Durango resident Chap Myers usually prepares his own taxes, but this year he had a couple of oddities that made them a little more complicated, so he sought help.
He signed up to have accounting and auditing students from San Juan College and Fort Lewis College prepare his taxes for free. Myers won't receive a refund this year, but he did save money by having students prepare his taxes.
“It went very well,” Myers said. “I thought the volunteer tax-preparer was super confident and worked very hard to find any deductions that I was entitled to.”
The program, in its fifth year in Durango, allows students to learn a marketable skill while providing a community service, said Kathy Elliott, who oversees the program and teaches foundational math through a program with Southwest Colorado Community College and accounting at San Juan College. Students meet by appointment from noon to 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays in the Commons Building, 701 Camino del Rio in Durango. She'll also take appointments on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Southwest Colorado Community College in Mancos.
Student volunteers prepared 405 tax returns last year and had zero errors, Elliott said. She expects to do a similar number this year.
“I don't care that we don't get paid,” Elliott said. “It feels good to help people, especially when they have issues with the IRS or they just lost their job and they really need that refund, and we can get it to them for free.”
She especially enjoys providing free assistance to residents who work two or three jobs, or full-time students who also maintain a job. Doing so saves them more than $100, which can be used to buy groceries for a week or two, she said.
The program targets people who qualify for the earned income tax credit, typically people who make less than $54,000 per year or families with children or kids in college.
“But preparing taxes for somebody that makes over $54,000 is not out of the scope for us,” Elliott said. “We just did one last week where the guy made $110,000. I don't know how he ended up in our sight, but I was like, 'Whatever, of course we'll do it for you.'”
Fort Lewis College senior Dillon Washburn, who has volunteered for three years, said the real-life experience looks good on résumés, and prospective employers have been interested in his volunteerism. But more than that, “it feels good to help somebody,” he said.
Tax preparation can be a scary prospect for people who are not used to working with numbers or reading government forms, especially when mistakes can result in a costly audit.
Washburn said taxpayers share a part of themselves that is generally kept private. So he talks to them and puts them at ease while methodically going through the steps.
He encouraged taxpayers to gather their tax documents, keep them organized and keep calm.
“Organizing them is really key,” Washburn said. “We, the preparers, like to see organization from the taxpayer. That makes the process a lot easier for us and them, because we just go through the documents one paper at a time and get it done.”
Student-prepared taxes are reviewed by two people, including Elliott, before they are submitted, she said.
Colorado taxpayers can look forward to a few perks this year, including a state sales-tax refund and a deduction for anyone who made more than $500 in contributions. And good news for procrastinators: Taxes aren't due this year until April 18.
Elliott said there's one thing she has learned from the hundreds of taxes she helped prepare in Durango: “I would just say that this is a pretty hardworking population. Everyone comes in with multiple W-2s.”
shane@durangoherald.com
Free tax help
To make an appointment to have your taxes prepared through Tax Help Colorado in Durango, call 553-9150. Participants need to bring a photo ID, Social Security cards, an individual taxpayer identification number, wage and earning statements, interest and dividend statements, a copy of last year's tax return if possible, among other forms. For a complete list, go online and visit: 1.usa.gov/20zD0EC
