March 2012 NOW AVAILABLE!
BREVARD’S AWARD-WINNING SENIOR NEWSPAPER
SeniorL ife
BOOMER SENIOR
GUIDE RETRO ISSUE
of florida
Volume 14 Number 10
RESOURCES CLUBS & ORGANIZATIONS
help doesn’t have to cost you money
no need to pay for aaRp electronic tax-filing help
TUSKEGEE TRIBUTE EMERGENCY EVACUATION TIPS 15
Senior Life of Florida Years
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Brevard’s own Strawberry Festival
Senior life George White
Ellie Barnett of Viera, left, gets tax help at the Cocoa Beach Public Library from AARP volunteers Bill Coyle, center and Sam Bovalino.
page 9
Presort US Postage PAID Orlando permit No. 1979
By george white
Senior Life of Florida 7630 N. Wickham Rd., Suite 105 Viera FL 32940
you can tell by the roadside sign holders that it’s tax season again, but you don’t have to pay to get help with your taxes through volunteers with the america association of Retired persons (aaRp). more than 65 volunteers throughout the county keep regular hours at public libraries and other locations and are trained and ready to help, according to volunteer coordinator don mcdonald of Rockledge. “We get all the information through the Internal Revenue
service (IRs) and all the volunteer preparers have to complete a test to get certified. all and all, I think we do better than some of these storefront operations. We do everything electronically and it’s all e-filed now,” he said. mcdonald said he has seen an impact from the availability of tax software like turbotax, mostly from younger filers who are adept at filing online, but not everybody has access to computers or computer skills. “I think we did more returns last year – probably about 5,000 to 6,000 countywide. We get repeat
customers every year and they pass the word along so there are always new faces,” he said. each participant is given 30 minutes with an aaRp volunteer to complete the returns. “they know there are other companies out there for tax help, but they also know that they charge too much,” he said. ellie Barnett of viera drove to the cocoa Beach public library for help that resulted in a refund. “I needed help. When you’re a retiree, you need all the help you can get,” she said.
tax help
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