Pacific volunteers geared up to help out at tax time
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Ask Robert Mauer why he spends three months of his free time, without pay, in a room filled with forms and financial anxiety. He’ll tell you, “I love taxes.”
Huh?
“I just love doing people’s taxes,” Mauer says, making the “t”-word sound like a treat. “Plus, people really need the help.”
This is Mauer’s seventh tax season in the U.S. Navy’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. He is one of 20 volunteers who work at the tax center at Yokosuka Naval Base, which just opened Tuesday in the building next to the Chief Petty Officers’ Club.
Volunteers are pretty evenly split between civilian and military, said Judith Rickey, another volunteer. She wields the clipboard and tamed the frenzied first-day pace into a neatly filed system. This is Rickey’s eighth tax season. She’s worked at VITA centers in San Diego and London, as well as Yokosuka.
“Tax season can get frenetic, but I try to make people understand that we’re here to help them through it — that’s the point,” Rickey said. “I worked in paid employment for many years — I guess volunteering is my way of giving back. I enjoy helping sailors who need some assistance.”
VITA is a free incoming tax filing service open to all stateside-hired status of forces agreement personnel. All one has to do is bring these documents to the second floor office near the CPO Club: Social Security numbers for filer, spouse and all dependents; all W2s; receipts for education expenses; interest statements; a canceled check to directly deposit refunds; stock sales and child-care provider information.
Please don’t forget your bank statement with the 2005 interest earnings, pleads Rickey.
“About 50 percent of the people forget that piece of information,” Rickey said.
Chief Jerry Frantz brought everything he needed; he used VITA last year.
“The service was quick and efficient,” Frantz said. “I was in and out in about an hour.”
Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka commanding officer Capt. Greg Cornish called VITA “quality of life personified” Tuesday.
“It’s because of our volunteers here at the Tax Center that we are able to help our sailors and their families,” Cornish said.
Last year Yokosuka Tax Center prepared 5,310 returns with refunds of more than $6.5 million.
While USS Kitty Hawk Seaman Jairo Martinez doesn’t anticipate a huge return, he plans on getting something back, he said. He went to VITA on opening day.
“What you fill out the forms, you get some money back,” Martinez said. “So of course everyone likes it.”
Yokosuka Tax Center hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday from now until June 15. Saturday hours run 9 a.m. to noon now through April 15. A reminder: While those working overseas needn’t file until June, those owing money have to pay in April.
Servicemembers also can file for free online at: www.militaryonesource.com.
