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The 62-year-old retired accounting professor is offering free income tax assistance to flood victims, senior citizens and individuals with low incomes at the Winona Senior Friendship Center or St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Rushford. Schneider said this job requires not only basic tax law knowledge, but a desire to help and sensitivity.
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Richard Schneider of Winona, right, prepares taxes for Jamie Hundorf, also of Winona, Tuesday at the Senior Friendship Center. Schneider volunteers his tax services at no charge to low-income, elderly and flood-effected individuals and families.
(Photo by Melissa Carlo/Winona Daily News) |
This is free tax service for the elderly and is sponsored by the (Internal Revenue Service). It’s also for those with low or median income. I’m the only one qualified to do it for flood victims. For that, there is no age or income level … We don’t do farm work and businesses.
There are particular things people have talents for. For me to help flood victims build their house, they would not want that. I’m not good at building things. Doing income tax comes fairly easy.
There are so many complications, as I’ve told my students, and anybody who claims to know all the tax laws is lying or just crazy because there’s no way.
It’s like being a lawyer. You’re dealing with the law, you’re dealing with tax law, exceptions from the law and advising people to comply with the law.
Sometimes you’re also counseling people who have problems with a relationship. You have to do a little marriage counseling, maybe you’re dealing with someone who lost their spouse or child and you need to be sensitive to those situations.
It takes good people skills to be able to talk and emphasize with people and gain their trust.
You’ll hear these ads from H & R Block and they’re trying to suck you in. … I’ve helped a person who has gone to a person like that. Their income credit was held on their W2, and charged them over a hundred dollars. Nobody should have to pay that much to get their taxes done, especially since we do have volunteer services available.
I think for the people to volunteer here it takes a little background in business, it takes training. It does not take a degree; it takes a desire to help other people.
You typically need to three certifications in basic tax laws and intermediate and advanced tax laws. I’ve just been working in the field for so long. I have my master’s in accounting and am a CPA.
My hours I work are Tuesday mornings from 9 to 12, Friday 9 to 12, Saturday 9 to 12 in Rushford and Monday night from 5 to 8.
Typically, each appointment is 40 minutes. We’re pretty booked, so people should make an appointment before they come in. Call 507-454-5212.
You have to have a good propensity for numbers. You need a good basic knowledge of the tax laws, like what is an extension and filing status.
We use Taxwise. It’s a professional software package.
(Clients) will bring along their W2’s, their social security cards, 1099Rs if they’re getting pensions. They’ll bring along their forms from their landlords to see if they qualify for rent credit and their driver licenses.
To get the rebate, people are going to have to file a tax return even if they’re not required to. It ranges from $300 to $600 a person, depending on your income level.
The flood victims will vary from retired individuals to people who have very good jobs. We see people in that $100,000 income range down to an income range of $10,000 or $8,000.
I’ve had some complicated ones, particularly with some of the flood victims that may have done their return before and not knowing how to handle that flood loss. There are all sorts of itemized reductions and they may have moved from one state to another.
One thing I’ve discovered with the flood victims, is they have little or no taxable income (because of dislocation or employment loss), and all that loss they had didn’t help them at all because you can’t reduce your income further. I found this also in Biloxi.
The only glimmer of hope is they may have the option of taking the loss on their income for 2006 or 2007. It’s a special law provision.
You need to know those rules specifically for the damaged items
(Clients) want to give you something and we can’t. One wanted to give me a free sandwich coupon for Hardee’s.
This story is part of a weekly series called “On the Job” where area residents talk about their careers. Contact Reporter Amber Dulek at 507-453-3513 or amber.dulek@lee.net.
