These survival hints come from
experience gained by new VITA Volunteers and Site Coordinators.
- If your closing time is the same as that of the
site host, remember the people there have worked a hard
day and need to go home; it takes time to pack and tidy
up the place; rushing to clear up causes things to get
misplaced, and harder to find the next time.
- While you want to be helpful...
- Resist the temptation and pleas to do that
simple return with only one W-2 just before
closing time; it is usually more complicated than
it appears. A particular taxpayer with one
W-2 had left the country last year and was
back to do taxes and collect the refund - it was
not clear if a 1040 could be filed or if a 1040NR
was required; there are a set of complicated rules
that determine if a taxpayer is a resident for Tax
Purposes, and those rules are defined in great
detail in the relevant IRS publications... and
generally not a part of the standard VITA training.
- Resist the temptation to re-do a tax return
already done on TurboTax. The Taxpayer is
probably knowledgeable enough, and has probably
run into an issue that can best be handled by
someone who has more knowledge than that taught at
VITA.
- VITA volunteer training does not extend to the
complicated returns of High-Income Taxpayers with
complex deductions; VITA training emphasizes various
credits that low income taxpayers may
receive, not the deductions that high income taxpayers
may want to take.
- Pre-screening avoids wasting the time of people
with complex returns; better to know that the return
cannot be done at the beginning so that they don't wait
two hours to learn it.
- Please send more survival hints to
webmaster@vita-volunteers.org
- If you see a tax identification number beginning
with a 9, it is an ITIN, not a SSN. E-filing this
return will cause it to be rejected. It must be
paper filed. It does not
qualify for the earned income credit. In some
cases, it may not agree with the W-2s that are brought
in by the Taxpayer. If you do not know how to
deal with this situation, please contact a more
experienced volunteer or coordinator who can guide you
through what needs to be done. Don't get into an
argument with the taxpayer about what
could/should/would be the right procedure. (This was
the personal experience of a first time VITA volunteer site
coordinator who did not know what to do in the situation.
If you see another preparer with this problem, it is best to
ask to talk with them away from the taxpayer and guide the
preparer through this issue)
- Remember the goal of VITA
volunteers is to help low-income, elderly, disabled and
limited language speaking taxpayers pay their fair share of
taxes and claim their entitled credits. It is not to
teach them the finer points of tax law, to debate or discuss
the fairness and unfairness of the tax laws, to teach them
how to use TaxWise software or how to use the computer.
While it is satisfying to do so, please remember that
others are waiting, and how it feels to you when you are
waiting in line and volunteers are having a great time
talking and laughing among themselves or with other
taxpayers rather than working on the task at hand,
completing and filing tax returns.
- Taxpayers must be
present when you have the documents and personal information
in front of them. Do not keep any of their documents
except those that are required for filing purposes once the
return is complete. Doing their return while they go
for lunch, or while they go to get something they forgot is
not appropriate and causes unnecessary delay for others.
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