Bicycle Capital of the Midwest

If you couldn't tell from the title of this post, I am writing today from Xenia, Ohio--"the bicycle capital of the Midwest!" (It's on the water tower so it must be official.)

I am teaching 5 new counselors how to file 2009 taxes. These trainings are largely uneventful and predictable. People will always struggle with logging in to the system, they will always forget the password (tbb12345) and they will always need me to spell my name at least 4 times (after all, there are about a thousand ways to spell variations of 'Kaitlyn.' Thanks, parents.)

They will also almost always, without fail, freak out about tax laws.

I don't know what it is, but people get crazy when it comes to taxes. Counselors are so scared of messing up their clients' tax returns that they obsess over every little tax rule in training. Some even become combative and argumentative!

For any future counselors out there, please note: I AM NOT A TAX EXPERT, NOR DO I CLAIM TO BE ONE! I know the Benefit Bank software and that's what I am here to teach. I am not giving you an advanced lesson in tax laws. For that you would need to go to law school. Or the IRS website.

But these little tax tantrums aren't just limited to new counselors. Clients also freak out about taxes. For example, a couple of weeks ago, Alex got a call from a woman wanting to do her taxes. When she asked the woman what forms she had (W-2s, 1099s, etc.) the woman said she didn't know--because she hadn't received any forms yet. Alex had to patiently explain that we can't file her taxes until she has her documents. And sure enough, the day after she got them in the mail she was in our office.

Yesterday I saw two tax clients. They had called last week and spoken with Alex, who tried to persuade them to attend our awesome tax clinic on February 13th, but both refused to wait 12 days to get their taxes done. Not wanting them to go elsewhere and pay for tax filing services, or worse, interest rates on outrageous refund anticipation loans, we scheduled them to come in.

The first woman who came in had a simple enough return. As we worked, I felt increasingly more confident and thought "tax season isn't so bad--I can handle this!" Then the afternoon rolled around. The second client was to come in at 2:00, giving me an hour and a half to do the return. But 2:30 came and went and he still wasn't there. I figured he was a no show, but then at 2:45 he called explaining he had had to wait for the mailman to arrive with his second W-2 and 1099-INT. I told to him that unfortunately Shared Harvest closes at 3:30 and the next available appointment wouldn't be until Thursday. Fully expecting to pencil him in for Thursday, he abruptly said "I'm on my way!" and hung up. So he arrived around 3, he opened his mail, and we got started. By 4:30 he had filed his federal and state taxes and he discovered he could expect about $1500 in his refund. I was glad to help--I'd want $1500 ASAP too, but WOW. Calm down, everyone, we'll get you taken care of!

I'm discovering that February will be like a permanent full moon month. People will behave in strange ways to file their taxes, get their refunds, and keep the IRS off their case.

Meanwhile, I can't wait for this class to be over so I can get home tonight and file my taxes! In fact, I should have brought my forms with me today so I could be doing it right now!

Just kidding...kinda...