RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
The office was quiet and LaMarr Queen was finally able to see the top of his desk after weeks of it being covered with paper. He's not lazy or unorganized, just busy.
Mr. Queen works in the Randolph tax office as the tax program's manager. He said he saw a noticeable increase in business this season compared to last year and the year before that.
Customers bring tax forms for "everything from sale of stocks to rental property and home-based businesses," he said. "We get few simple W-2s, but most of ours are more in-depth. Many people have some kind of investments, dividends - it's more in-depth than putting numbers down."
Different circumstances require their own unique forms and may have different rules for filing. They range from a young adult with one income, no dependents and no deductions to a household with two or more incomes, dependents, interest from a mortgage interest, home-based businesses, estates and stock dividends - all have their own forms and procedures.
"With the easy ones, it takes longer to put the information down than it does to do the return," he said of the more simple W2 forms someone with one income and no deductions may have. "I can do one in 15 minutes, basic returns are no big deal."
The varying complexity or simplicity of filing taxes can change the length of time a customer may need for an appointment at the tax office.
"Most appointments are an hour, but home-based businesses are an hour and a half," he said.
If taxes are completed and filed at the Randolph tax office and there is an error, the Internal Revenue Service can waive any penalties and interest. "Not always, but usually," he said.
Mr. Queen said if someone isn't familiar with the forms or wants to make sure to find deductions or potentially costly errors, they should make an appointment.
"Come to see us," he said. "We have people who are trained -- some of my tax preparers have been doing it for 16 to 17 years."
The tax office had 42 IRS-trained volunteers filing taxes and nine additional volunteers who answered the phone and scheduled appointments.
The tax office prepares taxes all year, but Mr. Queen goes back to only working in the office part time during the slower months.
"I do taxes pretty much year round," he said, to address needs of different circumstances, such as deployed servicemembers who have an additional six-month extension to file or if there is an amendment to a tax return or some sort of problem.
"I want to make sure people on Randolph have full access, or new folks who have lots of questions," he said.
Mr. Queen said the tax office saved the Randolph community $390,226 in filing fees, based on off-base fees per form at commercial tax preparing services. The tax office helped return more than $3.5 million to the community in tax refunds.