Taxpayers seminar offers help - before it's too late

A few minutes before the Sun City Taxpayers Association and AARP Tax-Aide got started with their income tax seminar Thursday morning, SCTA President Marv Worthen said he was not sure what to expect.

Would many people show up, or would the program be a bust?

"We had about 30 people sign up beforehand, and that’s about all we have room for," Worthen said. "I guess we’re hoping all those people show up, first of all, and then I suppose we’ll know what kind of response we’ve gotten."

When it came time to get started, sure enough, there were 30 people in the room.

The seminar was designed to educate taxpayers on what options they have while there is still time to take advantage of them. In previous years, Worthen said he has been frustrated at seeing how many people let potential benefits slip through their fingers.

"We got to talking about this, and we decided a seminar was the way to go," Worthen said. "We need to make it clear to people what choices they have before it gets past Dec. 31, because once that happens, you really have nothing left to do. If you’re retired - and really, that’s almost all of us - you have no options left."

The seminar was conducted by Bill Fleming and Virginia Fitzpatrick, AARP Tax-Aide coordinators who oversee programs at Westbrook Village and the Peoria Community Center, respectively. Fleming and Fitzpatrick spend nearly all of January training volunteers who then help others with filing their taxes. Last year, the office at SCTA filed more than 4,800 tax returns. Fleming said theirs is one of the most prolific offices in the state.

"There are 19 districts in Arizona, and ours is the third-largest in terms of the number of returns we file," Fleming said. "And Sun City West is ahead of us, so that tells you how much demand there is out here."

Fleming and Fitzpatrick discussed the options available to seniors filing returns, as well as changes for 2009 they need to be aware of.

"Basically it’s just filling them in on what we do so they have that understanding before they come in to file," he said.

Thursday’s seminar, he said, was a trailblazing effort.

"This is the first such seminar in Arizona as far as we know," Fleming said. "Marv went to a meeting not long ago, and they asked him to bring slides along so he could share what we’re doing here with them. I think what we’re trying to do is valuable, and we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully the response is good enough that we can do it again."