A free tax preparation service is available again in Hopkinsville this year, but the volunteers who do the work will have to communicate over the phone with their clients.
That is an IRS mandate because of the coronavirus pandemic, said Barbara Morris, one of the IRS-certified preparers who has volunteered to do returns for several years.
Anyone wanting help with their tax return should call 270-985-8328 to schedule an appointment.
The service begins Monday, Feb. 1.
The preparers will work out of the Christian County Senior Citizens Center, 1402 W. Seventh St.
Taxpayers will drop of a packet with their tax information at the senior center. They will receive a password to use when the tax preparer calls them back to begin filling out the IRS forms. (Here is a list of documents to include in the packet.)
The service, organized through the Pennyrile Allied Community Service’s Retired Senior Volunteer Program, began about 30 years ago to help senior citizens prepare their tax returns. Now it’s available to any individual who needs assistance regardless of their age. However, the preparers do not file returns for businesses or farms.
In addition to seniors, many fast food workers and factory employees have used the service.
Morris, 81, said she looks forward to doing the returns because it keeps her busy for several weeks every year during tax season.
“It makes you get up and go do something,” said Morris, who retired from administrative work at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital in 2003. She worked for the hospital for 37 years.
The tax preparers cannot accept payment or tips for their work. Morris joked that she and other volunteers “work for doughnuts.”
Normally they have five volunteers who complete about 600 returns. This year the preparers, in addition to Morris, will include retired health department director Anita Simmons, retired math teacher Shirley Chester and Joe Mastromarino, who is retired from the military.
The senior center is currently closed because of the pandemic. The tax preparers will work in the auditorium at tables 10 feet from each other, said Morris. Two greeters will be on hand to take packets from taxpayers.
The preparers go through IRS training and must pass a test every year to remain in the volunteer program, said Morris.
Last year the program had to shut down on March 17 because of the pandemic.
“The ones we had already started, I went ahead and finished them at home,” Morris said.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
