Some local residents seeking checks from Uncle Sam as part of the economic stimulus bill recently signed by President Bush are having trouble understanding what to do. The confusion comes from how the stimulus was set up, Jack Elrod, a local volunteer with AARP Tax-Aide, said.
According to the Internal Revenue Service: “Low-income workers who had at least $3,000 in earned income in 2007 but do not otherwise earn enough to be required to file a federal tax return need to file a return in order to get the stimulus payment. Likewise, Social Security recipients, veterans and retired railroad workers who might not otherwise need to file a tax return must do so to receive the economic stimulus payment.”
Volunteers at the Sammons Park Senior Fellowship Center on Monday kept busy helping senior citizens, veterans and others file for payments that in most cases will range from $300 to $1,200.
“My phone’s been ringing off the hook,” Elrod said. “Last year we did 400 and something returns and we’re running about 60 or 70 above our rate last year.”
Elrod has donated his time every tax season for a decade. He said they have already helped more people in 2008 than they did through April 15, 2007.
Jessie Jeffcoat, a World War II veteran wearing blue coveralls and a straw cowboy hat, said he hasn’t had to file a tax return in several years, but the volunteers made it easy.
“I probably wouldn’t have done anything,” Jeffcoat said. “All I have to do now is mail it.”
For the volunteers, the work is its own reward. “We just enjoy helping people. A lot of these folks have been coming for years so they know me when they come in the door,” Elrod said.
The AARP volunteers are available each Monday and Friday from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Sammons Park Senior Fellowship Center until April 14, 2008.
The United Way tax site at the Goodwill Learning Center on South 31st Street in Temple also offers volunteer tax preparations. They are open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
