|
Every year, the Accounting Aid Society trains hundreds of volunteers to help with its tax assistance program. The society's volunteers served more than 8,300 people with low incomes in 2007, spokeswoman Vicky Billington said.
"We make sure that low-income people not just get a refund . . . but we make sure that they also get all the tax credits, she said.
The organization lets low-income residents get their taxes done for free if they meet the right conditions. An individual has to make $20,000 or less, and a married couple or a person with at least one dependent has to make $40,000 or less.
Once a client is eligible, the group's volunteer tax preparers take advantage of tax credits that are available to many low-income people. Those include the Earned Income Tax Credit, a Home Heating Credit, the Homestead Property Tax Credit and a child tax credit.
Billington said the society gave an average tax refund of $1,048 last year, which is about 10 percent of an average client's household income. In 2007, the AAS gave about $8.7 million in refunds and tax credits, allowing that money to be used for the local economy,
Billington said.
"This is money that they may have not otherwise had," she said.
"When your income is below the poverty level, you need to make every dollar count."
Billington said her organization also protects its clients from unsavory practices that she said some businesses use to prey on the poor. One example is the rapid refund loan, which often comes with high interest rates.
The society plans to have more than 25 tax locations in Oakland, Wayne, Macomb and Livingston counties in 2008, Billington said. It plans to make those locations convenient while advertising the services through public service announcements.
"We borrow space from libraries, from community centers and places like that that are out in people's communities," she said.
Last year, more than 600 volunteers helped run the tax assistance program. This year, the AAS aspires to have even more help - especially from people who are willing to be trained in tax preparation. Volunteers use a software program to prepare income tax returns and tax credit forms.
"You don't have to be an accountant," she said. "You do have to be comfortable with laptop computers and comfortable with meeting people one-on-one, face to face."
Training sessions at local colleges across the metro area are available on Jan. 12 and Jan. 19.
Training is required for all people who join the program. "All of our volunteers are IRS certified," Billington said. "They have to take a test and pass it." The society expects tax preparers to serve at least three days within the traditional tax season.
While the organization especially needs tax preparers, it also is looking for volunteers who can be tax trainers, client screeners, computer technicians, data entry clerks, Spanish and Arabic translators and administrative support staff.
Lakshmi Sundaram, a Farmington Hills resident and first vice president at LaSalle Bank Midwest, said she has been a volunteer tax preparer for 10 years.
"I look forward to doing it every year," she said. "I feel that, living in society, you should do something to give back. If it's something that you're interested in, it makes you enthusiastic in doing it."
Anyone who is interested in becoming a volunteer can visit http://www.accountingaidsociety.org or call (313) 647-9620.
You can reach Staff Writer Eric Czarnik at eczarnik@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1058. | 
