Residents get help with filing taxes

“You will just call them for an appointment, and when you get there, you just need to give them your documents and sign,” Monceda said in Filipino. “Then they will tell you if you will receive [a refund] or not.”

At 61, Monceda admitted her unfamiliarity with online filing and U.S. tax laws. Even if she one day becomes proficient with technology and taxes, she believes her tax preparers could find a way to make her return bigger.

Monceda is among the community members who rely on the expertise of tax professionals to make tax filing a breeze and stress-free. As the last day to file individual income taxes approaches, experts urged taxpayers to take advantage of the free tax services offered around the Peninsula and receive filing assistance from qualified professionals.

Amy Tang is the site coordinator for the College of San Mateo’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, a tax-preparation assistance program sponsored by the Internal Revenue Service, CSM and nonprofit United Way Bay Area. Under the VITA program, they train students to receive IRS certifications and help community members submit their taxes for free. 

“Our goal is, first and foremost, to provide free tax preparation services to those people who [have] low and medium income,” Tang, an attorney and accounting professor at CSM, said. “But we have clients who actually have a pretty high income, like close to $200,000 a year, and they have been coming here for many, many years.”

According to Tang, the majority of their clients belong to the younger demographic, who file mostly with their W-2 tax forms. Retirees from San Mateo County also opt for help in filing their retirement benefits, pensions and individual retirement accounts. As of March 22, they submitted more than 500 tax filings for this year from clients anywhere from the Peninsula up to Sacramento. 

Despite VITA’s flexibility over income limits, the program could not assist individuals with complicated income situations. Taxpayers with rental properties, businesses and partnerships are simply out of the program’s scope and require guidance from a qualified tax preparer.

Lawrence Pon, an enrolled agent and certified public accountant from Redwood City, strongly suggests tax filers with other financial assets should ask for help from a tax professional and refrain from filing taxes themselves online.

“Software is not gonna give you judgment; it won’t give you advice,” said Pon, who teaches accounting and taxation at CSM. “And I think that’s a mistake people make on their own. They just close their eyes and just start inputting things and hitting the print button without checking it or reading it, and they don’t know it’s wrong.”

Pon also advises they should stay proactive and wary of possible follow-ups from the IRS and the state of California regarding their filing. He warned that the inability to provide supplemental documentation might slow the release of the refund.

“Sometimes the IRS or the state will send you a letter confirming your identity to make sure the return is really yours or something like that,” Pon said. “So if you don’t respond to that letter, it slows things down.”

Pon encourages tax filers to pay their debts or receive their refund electronically for security and convenience.

“The nice thing about paying online is you have a confirmation number,” Pon said. “And the computer checks to make sure that you inputted the right account number. If it’s a bad number, the computer’s like,’ Uh-oh. It’s not good.’ So that’s better now.”

The VITA program operates within nonprofits and higher education institutions around California. 

To find other VITA sites visit the IRS VITA locator at irs.treasury.gov/freetaxprep.