Tax-Aide

I am not posting much because I am working on getting my certification renewed to do Tax-Aide for this year. The biggest change is the Affordable Care Act, no surprise.

AARP works with the IRS to provide free tax filing for senior and low to moderate income people. Not all situations are in scope for them.

Be advised that some deductions are no longer available because Congress allowed them to expire. And at least one that was extended at the last moment is not in scope for Tax-Aide this year because they didn't get the info in time to incorporate it into the training.

On the other hand, some things that used to be out of scope are now in scope for Tax-Aide. I will be providing updates.

I noticed that we are no longer giving people info on how to contact the IRS. Obviously because Congressional Republicans have cut back funding to the IRS, which sounds great to many voters. This means fewer people to help taxpayers, at the same time as they have many question because of the ACA. And I would suspect it means fewer people to process returns, so maybe people won't get their refunds as quickly? The people who work at the IRS are fellow humans, and can only do so much, just like all of us. You don't have to be receiving benefits labeled welfare to have a welfare mentality. To expect government services w/o adequate funding is a welfare mentality.