After all these years, there’s a reason that we insist on continuing to call this little weekly effort, “Help Line,” and that reason is that we are supposed to, at least occasionally, help, which most of us find eminently reasonable, if not painfully obvious; so, here comes “help.”
To begin, I know that if we listen long enough to people who want us to listen long enough, we begin to get a bit confused about who is or isn’t paying taxes, or at what rate, or whether corporations are people or people are corporations or whether people might want to incorporate in order to become “people” who might not have to pay taxes, or…I know. And if we stop listening long enough, here’s where we’ll end up: Most of us have to pay taxes, or (at least!) deal with the reality of a tax return.
This is a realization which rarely cheers us up at this time of year, so we’ve placed Valentine’s Day squarely in the middle of February, and characterized it with chocolate, as an incentive to continue to continue. This is an example of “help.”
Corporate status aside, taxes are looming directly ahead, so who’s coming galloping to our rescue (again!) with real help? Right: TAX-AIDE! (That’s the “William Tell Overture” you’re hearing in the background)
For those of you who have only recently joined the species, TAX-AIDE are the good folks who come to our rescue at this time every year by providing free, skilled tax preparation and “e-filing” (that means that they do the whole tax thing online) and, thus, saving us from ourselves.
These are volunteers who get to read copious amounts of tax stuff, then go to classes, then take a test administered by the IRS to see if they really learned all the tax stuff that they had to read and listen to in classes and then give away major portions of their lives – For free! – To help us.
They must like us. And we certainly like them!
TAX-AIDE is sponsored by the IRS and AARP. You do not have to be a member of AARP to partake; in fact, you don’t even have to be an Elder! You can just be a regular tax-paying-or-tax-return-filing person of any age – Alas…
Now, look: If you have mega-bucks, own property in nine different states, have bookoo investments and have long-since incorporated yourself, give these folks a break, huh? For the rest of us, here’s the deal:
Bring a photo ID, Social Security cards for you, spouse and dependents, W-2’s, 1099’s and any other stuff necessary to get the tax return job done, your 2010 tax return AND bank account routing and account numbers, if you want a refund deposited directly, wait for it to be February 1st (Hint: next Wednesday) and show up at one of these sites:
- Port Townsend Community Center, Tuesdays and Fridays, 10:00-2:00. You’ll need an appointment, so call 385-9007, to get one;
- Tri-Area Community Center, Mondays, 10:00-2:00 or Wednesdays, 3:00-7:00. Appointment? Yes! Call 732-4822;
- Sequim Senior Activity Center, Wednesdays, 12:30-4:00 or Saturdays, 9:00-4:00. Call 683-6806 for appointment;
- Port Angeles library, Tuesdays, 9:00-3:00 and Saturday mornings, 8:30-12:30. No appointment necessary, so just show up, with something to read and good natured patience;
- Port Angeles Senior Center, Mondays, 9:00-3:00 – Call 457-7004 for an appointment, and…
- …Forks City Hall, from 10:00-4:00, on these Saturdays: February 4th & 18th, March 3rd, 17th & 31st and April 7th. Call 374-2558 for an appointment.
The last time I heard, TAX-AIDE was trying to schedule some sites in the Sekiu/Clallam Bay area, so stay tuned.
Feel free to thank these folks, because except for migraines, that’s all they’re getting out of doing this.
And now, since I’m in such a helpful mood and talking about “good guys,” try this: The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office has put together a survey that will, they hope, solicit some feedback from us so they can do better! How many chances do we get at something like that?
Right, so you can go to the Sheriff’s web site at http://www.clallam.net/Sheriff/ and click on the survey button OR you can “like” the Clallam County FACEBOOK page (I know, but some of us do that) and select the survey at https://www.facebook.com/clallamcountysheriff and have at it.
And if you’re still hearing the “William Tell Overture,” try humming the theme song from “M*A*S*H*.”
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