As mid-April arrives, many scramble to file their taxes on time in hopes of avoiding owing the IRS money. Filing taxes can be frustrating through the countless forms and financial jargon. So, tax services such as Liberty Tax and H&R Block exist to guide people through the storm, although costing hundreds of dollars many Americans don’t have to spend.
Every year a few weeks prior to when taxes are due, Kitsap Community Resources holds events for free tax filing help to combat this, most recently held at Silverdale’s Kitsap Regional Library.
“The tax program is for helping people prepare their taxes for free, which is really nice,” Asset Building Coalition of Kitsap Amelia Chea said. “There is an income limit of $69,000 or below per family. In Silverdale, there used to be an [American Association of Retired Persons] tax site, but they no longer do that because they didn’t have enough volunteers. So there’s kind of two major free programs, the AARP one and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance one through KCR. But all of the volunteers go through the same training and certification through the IRS.”
The majority of Americans are required to pay taxes, where one must report to the IRS one’s income so they can keep track of what money is where. Failure to file taxes can lead to financial penalties and even jail time if the court proves purposeful tax evasion. Spring can be a stressful time for workers as they sift through hundreds of applicable tax forms, non-monetary assets, economic vernacular, and compile financial records from the year, all within less than 4 months.
“Our goal is to help people with the process of doing their taxes,” Advanced Tax Preparer Jonathan David King said. “For many people, especially if you’re low income or it’s your first time, you miss out on many tax opportunities. Also, it can be overwhelmingly difficult, especially if you’re a small business. I teach people how to start businesses at KCR, and one of the most difficult things for them is doing their Schedule C [tax Form 1040] and getting everything lined up for tax season.”
America’s tax system is uniquely complicated among developed nations mostly due to Internal Revenue Codes being outdated and not reflecting current politics. Since every tax law is subject to change each year as law makers set out to help citizens, staying up-to-date is crucial to avoid penalties from the IRS and accurate payment.
“It’s been really nice to see people that thought they owed a lot of money not have to pay money or people that would have done their taxes wrong,” King said. “… This year, a lot of people that I help, they get tips in their work and there’s no tax on tips this year. If they entered it incorrectly, they wouldn’t know that. If they put in, ‘I just made this much,’ didn’t think about separating the tips out from their normal pay, they would end up paying a lot more than they’d have to pay, or maybe they would lose money that they would have received from the federal government because they did that incorrectly. A lot of people that are earning tips aren’t earning a lot of money, so to see them benefit from the process has been great.”
Although KRL hosts tax filing help events at multiple locations each year, there are various resources people can go to in the Puget Sound area for different or independent help. Whilst it may be intimidating, particularly for those new to the work force, there is much available help online and around the county.
“The IRS website has a lot of great free information,” Site Coordinator and volunteer Joyce Oswald said. “They also have access to some of the IRS free file partners so people can do their own returns online. United Way of King County is also our local conduit for all of the free tax services here in this region. So they actually have access to virtual preparers and we have homebound taxpayers who cannot come into a center so they could do that through United Way of King County. There’s many local partners that are really terrific. So I encourage people, use those resources online because there’s lots of free help out there.”
