KALAHEO — Charlie Rebb is looking forward to celebrating his 90th birthday on Saturday, but he spent Wednesday providing island residents free help with their taxes as part an AARP Tax Aide program at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center. “I love
KALAHEO — Charlie Rebb is looking forward to celebrating his 90th birthday on Saturday, but he spent Wednesday providing island residents free help with their taxes as part an AARP Tax Aide program at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
“I love doing this,” the resident of the Regency at Puakea said. “I’ve been doing taxes for the past 27 years, and this is the best season of the year for me.”
The AARP Foundation Tax Aide program is the nation’s largest, free, volunteer-run tax assistance and preparation service, states the AARP website. The program offers free tax help with preference given to simple returns for low- to moderate-income people and seniors.
“We’ve been doing this on Kaua‘i for more than 20 years. A lot of these people have come here year after year,” said Dave Thompson, one of two greeters at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
Program volunteers will visit other island neighborhood centers throughout March and in early April.
“We’re here to do the simple returns,” Thompson said. “We can’t do the heavy-duty returns. We’re not here to take business away from the tax professionals,” Thompson said. “For a lot of the seniors, they’re really happy when they get that $85 back from the state. For people who have the complicated returns, they need to see the professionals.”
Thompson said when a tax filer comes in, there is a two-fold process starting with the check-in by client facilitators, or as Thompson described them, “greeters.”
This step is to make sure the client has all of the proper paperwork which includes a copy of the previous year’s tax documents, W-2 forms from each employer, unemployment compensation statements and an SSA-1099 form if Social Security benefits were received.
The client also is asked to bring in all 1099 forms showing interest and/or dividends and documentation showing original purchase prices of sold assets, a 1099-miscellaneous form showing miscellaneous income, 1099-R form if pension or annuities were received, all forms indicating federal income tax was paid, dependent care provider information, all receipts or canceled checks if itemizing deductions, and Social Security cards or other official documentation.
Thompson said the Westside Tax Aide program, which covers the Kalaheo to Kekaha area, is led by Brian Casmerek and all of the tax preparers must go through the Internal Revenue Service certification process and sign a Code of Ethics statement.
The AARP Tax Aide program rotates through the Westside and Eastside of Kaua‘i through March and part of April.
Today, Tax Aide volunteers will be at the Kekaha Neighborhood Center.
Volunteers will be at the Kaumakani Neighborhood Center on March 6, the Koloa Neighborhood Center on March 7 and Waimea Neighborhood Center on March 8. The program will be from 9 a.m. until noon at the Koloa and Waimea centers.
The AARP Tax Aide program will be at the Hanapepe Public Library from noon until 2:30 p.m. March 15, March 22, March 29 and April 5.
Eastside residents can visit the Lihu‘e Neighborhood Center from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on March 13 and March 20.
The volunteers will be at the Kilauea Neighborhood Center from 8:30 until 11:30 a.m. on March 7 and March 21.
Tax assistance will be available at the Kapa‘a Neighborhood Center from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on March 15 and March 29. Clients are asked to be at the center by 10:30 a.m. at the latest.
All of the sites allow walk-ins. The Kalaheo site had more than a dozen tax filers in the first hour.
Since 1968, AARP Foundation Tax-Aide volunteers have helped almost 50 million taxpayers, according to an AARP Research and Analysis survey in 2011.
Visit www.aarp.org/taxaide or call 1-888-227-7669 for more information.
∫ Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
