By Mark Harvey
Allow me to be uncharacteristically straightforward: I want you to become a Tax-Aide volunteer.
Will it be fun? Well, I guess that depends upon how you define the term “fun.” Perhaps a more characteristically labyrinthine example would be helpful.
I spend major parts of my days reading about Medicare, or the endless rabbit trails of Medicaid, or how to attempt to navigate this-or-that bureaucracy or today’s change to this-or-that legal nuance. It isn’t fun; in fact, it often borders on masochism, in the form of coma-inducing boredom.
What is fun is when I can share and explain that stuff to someone who actually needs to know it, and it changes a life; sometimes, several lives. And that someone lights up, because their life just got better (or, at least, less scary) — that’s fun.
It’s the same thing for the courageous folks who have traversed the gauntlet and become Tax-Aide volunteers: Becoming able to help isn’t fun — but actually helping is a hoot!
If you haven’t already rolled your eyes and sent the paper sailing into the appropriate receptacle, let me explain what the “gauntlet” looks like.
First, you’ll have to attend New Volunteer Orientation classes — usually the first week of December, usually in Sequim, usually (I presume) with some respectable munchies and usually with some other genuinely decent, vaguely masochistic folks, like yourself. Then, you’ll devote significant chunks of December to studying the IRS-provided materials and tax preparation software to learn how to do what we all want you to do.
Then, you’ll study some more.
Then, you’ll study some more.
Why? Well, you know when tax season hits, right? Well, this is the only way you’re going to be competent to do taxes by tax season.
And don’t panic: You’ll have seasoned (if not scarred) Tax-Aide volunteers to mentor you along the way.
Then, you’ll go to more classes in Sequim, usually the first week of January.
Finally, you’ll become “IRS-certified” by passing the IRS tests at the “Advanced” level. FYI, you’ll also have to sign the IRS Standards of Conduct around ethics and confidentiality — and if the reason for that isn’t obvious to you, please ignore this entire column.
You’re done — now, you begin. You’ll be expected to volunteer for at least four hours per week during tax season; many folks do more. Don’t panic: The local Tax-Aide Coordinators are pretty sharp about scheduling around the vagaries of your life, be that the long-scheduled excursion to Branson, Missouri, or the earlobe transplant.
When you actually “go to work,” what you’ll experience is the sincere gratitude of folks who need you: low- and middle-income and “senior” taxpayers. You will change (and improve) lives. And you will take a lot of fear away. I didn’t say this was easy, but if you’re looking for something that will make you feel alive and “relevant,” this is it.
What do you do? Pretty simple, really: Go to www.aarp.org/taxaide and complete the online application. No, you don’t have to be a member of AARP (this is the AARP Foundation), nor do the taxpayers you’ll help. A local coordinator will get in touch with you, and boom — the game’s afoot!
I realize you could just as well spend December releveling all the pictures on the walls or researching Eastern European fruitcake recipes, but I hope you don’t. I hope you become a Tax-Aide volunteer, because it isn’t just a thing that you do.
It’s about who you are.
Mark Harvey is the director of information and assistance for the Olympic Area Agency on Aging. He can be reached by email at harvemb@dshs.wa.gov; by phone at 360-532-0520 in Aberdeen, 360-942-2177 in Raymond, or 360-642-3634; or through Facebook at Olympic Area Agency on Aging-Information & Assistance.
