Doing taxes is all about numbers. This year, EBALDC wants to file 1,000 tax returns and put $1,000,000 into the hands of low-income people in Oakland. This will require 20 volunteers working 150-200 combined hours per week for 11 weeks, give or take.
The IRS on the other hand, is all about abbreviations. Have business expenses? You’ll need to fill out a Sch C-EZ along with your 1040, and you’ll probably need a Sch A, too. Don’t forget the 13614-C, and let me know if you need help with your W-9. Did you receive an ERP with your SSI in 2009? Let’s make sure we get you some EIC and maybe the CTC.
When one deals daily with the IRS, and contends with technical issues that inevitably arise from using sensitive software, and coordinates 20 volunteers (who speak three or four different languages with clients) it’s easy to get lost in this sea of numbers and arcane acronyms. The tax season exerts stresses on everybody involved, and focusing on the numeric formalities can help preparers keep their sanity through the long slog of tax season.
But once or twice during the season, everybody hits an epiphany moment when he or she realizes that the numbers and acronyms are in-and-of-themselves meaningless, that doing taxes isn’t about working late nights or coordinating volunteers, that there is far more to it than that. For me, this moment came a few weeks ago when I filed a tax return for a single mom and we found that her refund would be over $8,000. With three children and yearly earnings from worked totaling $20,000, this return increased her annual income by almost 50%– and we were able to do it in about half an hour. In that moment, she and I were not client and tax preparer, we were friends and confidants as we talked about the most prudent way for her to use this windfall (an IDA savings account would make sense). And as we talked, I sensed in her demeanor and voice an ease and relief that people struggling to make ends meet rarely exhibit. Getting this money let her know that although things had been difficult, there was help for her and things could be better. It gave her hope.
In those moments, everyone involved sees with simple clarity that taxes is not about numbers or paperwork, long nights or stressful administration, it’s about helping one another find hope and stability during uncertain times. In short, doing taxes is all about people.
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This entry was written by Leonardo Covis. This is his second year with EBALDC, he started last year as a LISC Americorps member. He has continued working with us coordinating our programs at the SparkPoint Center, our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, our Money Savvy Youth Program, and the Senior Consumer Education Programs.
