Free AARP tax-preparation at Civic Center

Community members looking for help with tax preparation can find it for free at the Sgt. Willie Estrada Memorial Civic Center.

The AARP Foundation Tax-Aide site and its 24 volunteers are offering free tax preparation services for the 2015 tax year. Services are first come first served and there is no age or income limit.

The site is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with sign ups starting at 8 a.m., 800 E. First St. There is no appointment needed but Janice C. King, district coordinator for Otero County, suggests people get there early.

Generally the site helps about 80 people a day and King credits the volunteers for getting such a high volume of people’s taxes done in one day.

Being able to help that many people wouldn’t be possible without the volunteers, she said.

“The key is that it’s all volunteer run,” King said. “The reason we get the volunteers we do is because people want to give back to their community. The people are caring.”

While it feels good to give back to the community, there is also an economic impact, King said. The AARP Foundation Tax-Aide site is bringing money back to community members who in turn spend that money in town and that helps local businesses, she said.

Last year the site helped get federal returns in the amount of $1,124,431, according to King. Last year the site also helped file 1,567 federal tax returns and 1,670 state tax returns, King said. In addition to filing, they also helped 782 people with tax advice, she said.

“We are the third largest site in the state,” King said, adding that Santa Fe Community College is the largest AARP Foundation Tax-Aide site in the state, followed by the Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico in Las Cruces.

There are 47 AARP Foundation Tax-Aide sites in the state and King said they hope to open three more but right now her immediate goal is to find more volunteers for next year.

“If more people would volunteer to help us then the site could be open Tuesday, Thursday and maybe Saturday,” she said.

King took over as district coordinator six years ago to save the site from closing. Although her duties can seem chaotic, with computers going down and software not working, there isn’t anything she’d rather be doing.

She gets to meet new people and learn more about the community she loves.