The American Association of Retired Persons wants to talk with you if you are a Kaua’i senior citizen on a fixed income or a middle or low-income resident needing help doing your taxes. With volunteers trained by the Internal Revenue
The American Association of Retired Persons wants to talk with you if you are a Kaua’i senior citizen on a fixed income or a middle or low-income resident needing help doing your taxes.
With volunteers trained by the Internal Revenue Service, the AARP office in Lihu’e has begun offering free tax return preparation at island neighborhood centers. The service began Feb. 1 and ends April 15.
The AARP-Tax Aide program helps senior citizens stretch their financial resources, said Molly Rowe, a spokeswoman for the AARP Information Center on Rice Street.
Over the past 32 years, 27 million seniors nationally, including clients in Hawai’i, have been served by the program, the largest volunteer-operated counseling service in the nation, Rowe said.
More than a dozen counselors for the Kaua’i project went through training in January and testing before they were certified to do the job, Rowe said.
“They really want to help. They spent 40 hours of in-depth study, an, although none are certified public accountants, some have had enough experience in accounting to help,” Rowe said.
But if individual tax returns are too complicated, clients will be asked to consult professional tax preparers, Rowe said.
With additional counselors available this year, more people are likely to come forward for the service, she said. To meet the expected crush, AARP has stepped up efforts to recruit more volunteers.
“We want them to come. We need them for something that will help seniors in a good way,” Rowe said.
The tax aide service is administered by the AARP Foundation in cooperation with the IRS.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
