This is an old thread but I wanted to follow up with a summary of my adventures as a volunteer tax preparer for the AARP Tax-Aide program, part of the IRS-Sponsored Tax Counseling for the Elderly.
The IRS describes the program this way:
"Trained and certified AARP Tax-Aide volunteer counselors can help people of low-to-moderate income with special attention to those aged 60 and older". Well, I did get trained and by the end of the tax season I was almost certifiable.
Actually, the training to use the IRS-furnished software wasn't bad. All volunteer tax preparers had to attend a training program lasting 4 hours a day for seven days. We were tested (open book) before being certified to prepare Federal returns. The software was not nearly as user friendly as Turbotax or similar consumer oriented programs. It was similar to filling out a paper 1040 online, with the math done for you by the computer. For example, a client would hand you a 1099-R, a brokerage statement, or a W2-G and you had to know where to input the information. We (4 volunteers and two volunteer program leaders) worked in a large room (no client privacy
) and constantly collaborated when we had questions of how to handle something out of the ordinary...such as the 1099 a couple received from a bank who forgave some credit card debt.
While I enjoyed w*rking with my fellow volunteers and the majority of the clients we served were deserving and very appreciative of our help, I'm not sure I'll go back again next year. I had several problems with the program, all centered around the sour old German couple who led the program.
Instead of restricting the assistance we gave to low income and elderly, we did returns for anyone and everyone. It seems the more tax returns we did the more computers the IRS would provide the local program for next year, so the leaders focus was on volume rather than age and income. That's not to say we never turned anyone down - we would not do returns for someone with rental or farm income, for example. I will admit to getting frustrated as I spent two hours working on a return for a couple who had a dozen or more 1099's and other documents from the sale of stock, dividend income, interest income, and annuity income. And the fact the essobee had a significantly larger income than me didn't help either.
But I think what irritated me more than any of that was the attitude of our leaders, AKA "Franz" and "Hilda". As I said, we worked in a large room at the local library. Four volunteers did the return, then fed them to F & H to review. If they found a mistake, they would yell across the room, "Hey REW, don't you know how to spell XXXXXX?" or "Hey Mary, you forgot to XXXXX!" All the other volunteers would look at each other and roll their eyes each time they loudly pointed out our mistakes or omissions to everyone in the room. I'm sure it instilled a lot of confidence in the clients we were working with at the time.
Add to the above the fact that I never heard Franz or Hilda ever said "thank you" to a single volunteer. I heard them complain a lot about the clients, the IRS staff they worked with, the software, the computers they were using, the library facilities, the weather, and everything else under the sun. But in the 13 weeks I was involved with the program, driving 75 miles round trip each day, I never heard them say thank you to any of the volunteers.
Call me an old grouch, but I don't think I'm going to continue to be involved in this program again unless they get some new leadership. I'm sure I can find something much more rewarding to entertain me next year from late January to mid April.
