BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Volunteers, including bilingual persons, are needed to work at tax help sites in the Birmingham area during the 2014 tax filing season. Those who volunteer will be trained with Internal Revenue Service tax materials to help elderly and low- to middle-income people with their individual income tax returns.
Nearly 92,000 people said yes to helping out during the 2013 tax filing season. These tax volunteers prepared more than 3.3 million returns at thousands of free tax sites nationwide.
Volunteers participate in training sessions — in class, online, and through self-study — then are tested on what they learned. Once certified, volunteers are assigned to work with more experienced volunteers.
Volunteers are trained to use a computer to prepare simple to moderate income tax returns — a skill that can help them with doing their own taxes. In return, volunteers are asked to spend at least 4 hours a week helping at a site from mid January through April 15.
Volunteers need not have any accounting experience. All that is required is a desire to help others who cannot prepare their own basic returns or can’t afford to pay a tax preparer.
For more information or to volunteer, contact Jasmine Little with the Norwood Resource Center at 205-322-7361 or email her at jlittle@norwoodresourcecenter.org.
Local sites where Hispanic filers are helped need volunteers who are bilingual. To volunteer or for more information, contact Johanna Alvarez with the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama at 205-942-5505 or email her at jalvarez@hispanicinterest.org. Or contact Pablo Moscoso with Agape Christian Church at 205-410-7273 or email him at pablo.agape@hotmail.com.
