Tax Returns Prepared Through IRS Volunteer Programs Had 49% Error Rate

[Elrod]

(TaxProf Blog) - The Volunteer Program provides no-cost Federal tax return preparation and electronic filing to underserved segments of the population of individual taxpayers, including low- to moderate-income, elderly, disabled, and limited-English-proficient taxpayers.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2013/11/tigta-tax-returns-.html

[Guest Taxed]

Does not surprise me at all. I routinely get referrals who have used VITA before.

This season had a lady (used VITA in previous years) come to be because she got a K1 from the estate of a relative and after VITA prepared her return and the supervisor was reviewing it, caught that and said it does not file returns with K1.

[Catherine]

My assistant last year had a Master's in Accounting and had worked for VITA for 3 - 4 years. He was hopeless. Good at scanning documents, and did know enough about returns to collate them properly; not much else. He was marginally better than the professional violinist I know from church who would come help with scanning when I was desperate. I knew more about tax preparation when I was 16, for gosh' sakes. And both my girls could run rings around him *today*, with one eye closed. I was not impressed with VITA's training, or with him. (In his defense I will say he tried hard, was on time, and was always polite. That is worth something these days.)

[Guest Taxed]

Gives Masters of Accounting a bad name??

I hire high school junior or seniors who have taken Accounting and most of them know enough about taxes to be dangerous.

My youngest son was doing 1040EZ for his friends when he was 17.

[JohnH]

A professional violinist - now why didn't I think of that ? !!!

With of the sob stories I hear from some clients, it would be a real asset having him playing a dirge in the background.

[Guest Taxed]

>>> it would be a real asset having him playing a dirge in the background.

With a tiny violin

[Catherine]

Gives Masters of Accounting a bad name??

I hire high school junior or seniors who have taken Accounting and most of them know enough about taxes to be dangerous.

My youngest son was doing 1040EZ for his friends when he was 17.

My daughters have given plenty of tax or bookkeeping assistance to friends (up through Schedule C, and with QuickBooks) as well.

Fiona (my older girl) tells a story of getting the W-2 from her burger-flipping job in Harvard Square (Bartley's Burger Cottage, for those who know) some years ago. She said, "Thanks! I've been waiting for this," and the kid next to her said, "What is it?" She started telling him what a W-2 was, what one needed to do with it, how to fill out a 1040, etc. and within seconds had *all* the kids who worked there gathered around her, hanging on her every word and asking questions (all of which she was able to answer correctly). She said that as she was talking, she was thinking to herself, "I sound just like Mom...."

[BulldogTom]

My daughters have given plenty of tax or bookkeeping assistance to friends (up through Schedule C, and with QuickBooks) as well.

Fiona (my older girl) tells a story of getting the W-2 from her burger-flipping job in Harvard Square (Bartley's Burger Cottage, for those who know) some years ago. She said, "Thanks! I've been waiting for this," and the kid next to her said, "What is it?" She started telling him what a W-2 was, what one needed to do with it, how to fill out a 1040, etc. and within seconds had *all* the kids who worked there gathered around her, hanging on her every word and asking questions (all of which she was able to answer correctly). She said that as she was talking, she was thinking to herself, "I sound just like Mom...."

Smart kids. You should be proud. Most kids don't know anything about how to handle money and finances.

A while ago, I had an idea that I could teach a high school capstone class that would run through 4 years of financial life with the students. It would start with writing a resume, filing out a job application, and based on that resume, getting a "job" with a salary. The better the resume and application, the better the pay. Then they would move on to the mundane tasks of life like, filling out an application for an apartment, creating a budget, writing checks for the monthly bills, balancing a check book, filing a tax return, purchasing auto and health insurance, paying rent, and buying and paying for a car. I had all kinds of games included that would throw them curveballs like spinning the wheel of life and coming up with a wife and children, an auto accident, or getting a new job with a raise that needed to be added to their program. Every quarter would end with the filing of a tax return based on the income and deductions they had during the quarter.

But, I am not a teacher, so it never came to fruition. But I would still love to see it as a senior class some day.

Tom

Hollister, CA

[kcjenkins]

Sounds like a good idea, Tom. Keep trying to sell it. It sounds like something that a Charter school might offer.

[Gail in Virginia]

Maybe you could set it up as an online computer game, like World of Warcraft (or whatever it's called), and sell it as "fun", make tons of money and teach teenagers and young adults something all at the same time! Okay, maybe not, but I like the idea of charter schools or even home-schooled students using it. Way too many governmental hoops to jump through for private schools to go for it most likely.