Lake Norman Publications

Help for Senior Taxpayers




What is it about those three little letters, I. R. S. that have many of us shaking in our boots?

Robert Allen know this fear all too well as he oversees the AARP TAX- AIDE program held each year at the Charles Mack Citizens Center in Mooresville.

Opening February 1st (check date) through April 15th, Allen heads up a group of trained certified tax counselors to help seniors do taxes. With borrowed laptops and a Wi-Fi especially created for the project, the Mooresville site helped file 497 returns

and saw earned income credit payments of $76,500 in 2012.

Robert Allen, a retired as lawyer for the Department of Justice heads up the program, ¾organizing the site and training volunteers. After retirement he followed a dream of being a cross-country truck driver before settling down to sooth the frayed nerves of senior citizen and navigate the complexities of our tax system.

Susan Dunlap is the Client Facilitator and is one of the first people a client will meet. Her friendly face greets the client as she hands them an intake interview form and makes sure the senior has all the correct documents.

After Dunlap checks the client’s documents, the client will proceed to another room and sit down with a counselor to discuss his or her taxes.

“It’s intimidating to do taxes,” said Allen. “First you might have a widow or widower who has never had to deal with financial issues and has a high level of anxiety. Secondly, some tax details are intimate, nothing you’d like to discuss with a neighbor.”

But it’s just this ability to calm and reassure seniors that keeps Allen involved in managing the program. “Our clients are a kick. I love sitting down with someone who is anxious and telling them a joke to relax them and get them to smile.”

He enjoys the challenge of processing a tax return and sees it as a puzzle to solve, something likened to filling in a Sudocu puzzle. He emphasizes how taxes have become so complicated that a senior cannot file a tax form without a computer. When Allen signs up his counselors to help with the tax return process, he specifically looks for those who have a working knowledge of computers.

In order for counselors to understand the intricacies of the U.S. tax laws, he teaches a four-day course in the University City Library. But even after a potential volunteer finishes the course, he or she will have to take an IRS test.

When asked about new laws, Allen reminds his clients that just because a new regulation is created, it doesn’t mean the law will necessarily apply to everyone. He also added there aren’t a lot of changes in 2013 but we will see many in 2014. Allen uses the example of those who receive subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, stating many who haven’t filed in the past would have to file now to report the subsidies.

When asked if there is an age limit when you don’t have to file? Allen says “No.” He points to an example of a 99-year old woman for whom he does her taxes.

Another popular question is, “Are my social security benefits taxed?” Allen said social security didn’t used to be taxed but now it is.

Susan Hackendorf of Davidson is one of the counselors who answers these questions. She got involved with the program when she moved from Maryland. The math major said she called up the AARP and became a counselor in 2009. “I like doing taxes because it’s just a big math problem and I like math.”

For those math-haters, many Mooresville residents are grateful for the Tax-Aide Program to help seniors.

Appointments at the Charles Mack Citizen Building are filled but Allen is taking appointments for the War Memorial Building on Tuesdays from 10-2, no appointment needed. For more information, call: 702 663-7026.

Another place for free tax filing is the State Employee Credit Union. For more information call: 704-663-0305.

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