VITA-Volunteer Income Tax Assistance

[AZ-Tax]

I file an ext for my client (TP), right. They come in last week and the start by saying please dont be upset but we went to VITA to get our taxes completed back in late March. Obviously I am thinking inside "so why didnt you tell me when I asked you first part of April if you want me to flle ext for you" but I keep quite for I could see there was more to this. It seems my "dribble" client, you know the one that never brings you everything the first time, did not give the VITA person all their tax related items and noted that on the VITA intake/interview sheet but the VITA person completed and filed their tax return anyway. When the TP went back with their remaining tax docs, they were shocked the guy filed their tax return (though I have to admit I was not shocked). The TP asked VITA how can they resolved this and VITA replied, we can't. The TP asked for a copy of their tax return and VITA would not supply it. Now, this is coming from the TP. Wow, I replied. So now they also need the tax return to apply for FASA so I have copies of their refund checks therefore I need to recreate the tax return to match the refund amts, then I need to amend it. It use to be the IRS would supply a copy to the TP for a fee but they do not want to wait that long.

UPDATE so my calculation report a Fed refund of $15 less then the TP received on his Fed refund check and $10 less then TP received on his state refund check. Its a rather simply return, 1 W2, 1040A, w/Sch B and EIC. So I increased his Fed w/h by $15 and his state w/h by $10 on his W2.....waaalaaaa. Now my refunds match. Is this possible the VITA person made a data entry error(s)? $42250 AGI, $1K of child tax credit (2 kids) & $794 of EIC....am I missing another credit somehere?

[MLINDER42]

Vita

You should be able to obtain a transcript of the return either by telephone and fax or thru e-services.Than you will be able to amend it and know exactly what was filed.

[Lion]

As has been stated, you can get a transcript (line by line with no W-2s attached) instantly via e-Services and other methods with a POA. Or, your client can use an IRS tool similar to e-Services to obtain his own transcript. Or, your client can walk in to the nearest IRS office to obtain a print out. And, he must've been given a copy when he filed with VITA.

Your transcript will include federal withholding but not state. He will need to bring you his W-2s.

Charge him your hourly rate (the one you use for new clients) for every second you spend on this: research, preparation, dragging documents and information out of him, etc. Maybe charge him 1.5 times your hourly rate!

[OtisMozzetti]

...
Your transcript will include federal withholding but not state. He will need to bring you his W-2s.
...

Even if he doesn't provide his W-2, the W-2 in this case does not need to be filed with the amended return. The state withholding is not found on the IRS transcript, but in our state (California) when we call the state tax authority they usually don't even ask to verify the taxpayer's authorization they just tell us the amount of state withholding (on current OR prior year returns) so long as we can tell them the name of the employer. They must get a lot of such calls. Without name of the employer, they won't tell us the amount of withholding that was paid.

In the past, some of the VITA sites did not file any state return; so I had prospective clients asking me to file "just the state return", which of course required me to prepare both the federal and the state return.

[AZ-Tax]

I have the W-2 but VITA, woow.

In the past, some of the VITA sites did not file any state return; so I had prospective clients asking me to file "just the state return", which of course required me to prepare both the federal and the state return.

I have the W-2 but I dont have the tax return. Based on the TP's refund checks, VITA is coming with a Fed refund that is $15 higher and a state refund $10 higher then I came up with. When I enter $15 more Fed w/h and $10 more ST w/h then appears on the ACTUAL W2, both my Fed and ST refunds match the checks. On behalf of the TP, I ordered a copy of their 2011 tax return. I have the original VITA "Intake/interview & Quality Review Sheet" and it says on the bottom: To report any concerns to IRS on site operating issues please call Toll Free 1-877-330-1205 or email us at WI.Voltax@irs.gov

What is the story, you cant fire, penalize and/or regulate a volunteer?

[jimfrombx]

If an individual violates VITA procedures they can be fired and placed on a list that would restrict them from future volunteer tax preparation.
However, as an experienced tax preparer how likely do you think it is that the VITA tax preparer refused to give the client a copy, and said that nothing could be done to correct the problem?
Having worked for H&R for over 10 years and working off-season when the IRS letters came in, I became used to the " the IRS says I owe money because the Tax Preparer......" and it didn't matter who prepared the return, H&R, CPA, JacksonHewitt, Liberty or VITA.
I just finished my 2nd year with VITA and am amazed at the way the volunteers go out of their way to help individuals. EVERY return we do is checked by a second person,
in front of the client, and before the return is printed. The second person enters their ID in the system to verify they checked.
So while your client could have come across a "rogue preparer" I wonder how likely the scenario described to you actually happened, or they misplaced the return and NOW
Fafsa becomes an issue.

[appelman]

Good point, Jim.

I supervise a VITA site every Saturday during season, and I very much doubt that things happened the way the taxpayer says. My volunteers will always go the extra mile to help clients.

[DonPriebe]

The way I read the OP, the client went back to the VITA site to get a copy of his return, and they couldn't supply him one. Assuming that VITA operates according to the same rules as AARP/TCE, that is entirely possible.

To minimize the amount of data that would be compromised if a preparer's laptop was lost or stolen, the return data are erased from the laptop as soon as they have been sucessfully transfered to the ERO's transmitting computer. These transmitting computers are often not located at the preparation site. So it is entirely possible that a client could return to a site several days after her return was prepared and not be able to get a copy of that return.

Note that TCE keeps no paper whatsoever on a client's return. All oiginal data, worksheets, signed forms, scratch paper etc. is placed in the client folder and returned to the client at the end of the interview. We do keep a daily activity record - how many e-files, how many amendeds, etc., but no financial data.

[There are also still sites that manually prepare returns. They deliver the original to the client and do not make copies.]

[Koss]

Data Entry Error?

A-Z Tax wrote:

so my calculation report a Fed refund of $15 less then the TP received on his Fed refund check and $10 less then TP received on his state refund check. Its a rather simply return, 1 W2, 1040A, w/Sch B and EIC. So I increased his Fed w/h by $15 and his state w/h by $10 on his W2.....waaalaaaa. Now my refunds match. Is this possible the VITA person made a data entry error(s)? $42250 AGI, $1K of child tax credit (2 kids) & $794 of EIC....am I missing another credit somehere?

I haven't checked your figures in my software. But as you pointed out, the return is straightforward. For this type of return, the output should be the same, for any tax pro, with any software.

While it is certainly possible that there was a data entry error at the VITA site, I think it is unlikely that there was a data entry error in both the federal and the state withholding. In other words, there's probably only one error--not two.

If it's a single error that is affecting both the federal and the state returns, then it's an error that is affecting the federal AGI.

Without the original return, you're looking for a needle in a haystack. But not really... on a simple return like this, there's only a couple places the error could be.

It's probably a transposition of the amount in Box 1 of Form W-2, or an amount on Schedule B.

Which state is it, anyway? Is it one of the states that has earned income credit?

Here's the real answer:

Your client can use the figures you have to prepare the FAFSA. The FAFSA doesn't ask for withholding or the amount of the refund. It asks for income figures and tax liability. The FAFSA form allows you to use an estimate. It can be updated later, after an amended return has been filed. They should just use what you have right now.

I'm not sure I would do anything for this client unless they pay in advance, and it would be 150% of whatever the original fee would have been.

BMK

[Koss]

Transposition

A-Z Tax wrote:

UPDATE so my calculation report a Fed refund of $15 less then the TP received on his Fed refund check and $10 less then TP received on his state refund check. Its a rather simply return, 1 W2, 1040A, w/Sch B and EIC. So I increased his Fed w/h by $15 and his state w/h by $10 on his W2.....waaalaaaa. Now my refunds match. Is this possible the VITA person made a data entry error(s)? $42250 AGI, $1K of child tax credit (2 kids) & $794 of EIC....am I missing another credit somehere?

If you change the federal AGI to $42,205, and hold all other variables constant...

then the tax liability goes down by $5 and the EIC goes up by $10.

BMK

[appelman]

The VITA ERO hasnot moved to the moon!

The way I read the OP, the client went back to the VITA site to get a copy of his return, and they couldn't supply him one. Assuming that VITA operates according to the same rules as AARP/TCE, that is entirely possible.

To minimize the amount of data that would be compromised if a preparer's laptop was lost or stolen, the return data are erased from the laptop as soon as they have been sucessfully transfered to the ERO's transmitting computer. These transmitting computers are often not located at the preparation site. So it is entirely possible that a client could return to a site several days after her return was prepared and not be able to get a copy of that return.

Note that TCE keeps no paper whatsoever on a client's return. All oiginal data, worksheets, signed forms, scratch paper etc. is placed in the client folder and returned to the client at the end of the interview. We do keep a daily activity record - how many e-files, how many amendeds, etc., but no financial data.

[There are also still sites that manually prepare returns. They deliver the original to the client and do not make copies.]

Any VITA ERO, if notified, can provide a replacement copy of the return, and can also arrange to restore the file to one of the working computers for amendment. (VITA sites do not generally use laptops for preparation.) At my site, we do this many times during the course of a season, including one time for a client who was so embarrassed at finding another 1099 that he went to H&R Block. HRB, to their great credit, phoned us. I am not aware of any VITA sites that routinely prepare paper returns. E-file is part of the VITA mandate from IRS.

This is why am really skeptical that a volunteer told the client he couldn't provide a replacement copy of the return and couldn't do anything about the additional document. Certainly if any of my volunteers had said anything like that, they would have been severely reprimanded. While not technically an ethics violation, it is certainly contrary to the spirit of the VITA service.

After the end of tax season, it would be a different story, since many sites do routinely wipe data from all their computers.

[DonPriebe]

... I am not aware of any VITA sites that routinely prepare paper returns. E-file is part of the VITA mandate from IRS.

It's probably in the TCE mandate also, but that doesn't mean we have enough computers to fulfill our "mandate".

May / Do VITA volunteers use their own (personally owned) computers? I'm estimating that 30-50% of AARP volunteers in our area do.

[appelman]

Rarely, if at all.

It's probably in the TCE mandate also, but that doesn't mean we have enough computers to fulfill our "mandate".

May / Do VITA volunteers use their own (personally owned) computers? I'm estimating that 30-50% of AARP volunteers in our area do.

I use my Mac (with VM Fusion) as the transmitting computer for my site, but the actual work is done at a school computer lab or similar facility where we have a bank of a dozen computers. We only operate on Saturdays, but we still manage to churn out some 300 returns, plus back years and amendments.

VITA generally operates through a regional sponsor and local sub-sponsors who procure the computer facility. In our case (Alameda CA), the regional sponsor is United Way, and the local sub-sponsor is an organization called the Alameda Point Collaborative. One problem is that the sponsor's first priority isn't always accurate tax return preparation, so that you end up having to fight a lot with them. But I used to be a site coordinator for AARP, and I found dealing with their bureaucracy to be a real pain in the butt.

[AJsTax]

FAFSA download

The FAFSA application has a new screen this year where you can download the tax return information directly from the IRS computers if a couple of weeks have passed for an efiled return. I used it one time this year and it worked like a charm!! I am amazed at the number of people that can not find their return 2 months after it was filed.
If you have a W-2 you have enough information to download the tax information directly into the FAFSA. Try it, you will like it!