Tax assistance available during 2006 tax season

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Michael O'Mara
  • 17th Training Wing Legal Office
GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  This year, Goodfellow's tax assistance program will operate a little differently than it has in previous years. All active duty members assigned to Goodfellow who would like to receive free tax assistance in preparing their federal income tax returns and free electronic filing must first go through their unit tax advisor. This will allow the member and the UTA to remain within close proximity of their duty section and reduces the amount of lost duty time the member would incur if required to travel from their duty section to the base tax center. The UTAs will be able to complete the entire filing process to include tax preparation, transmission and processing solely from their office desktop computer. Please contact your UTA for an appointment.

There will still be a Goodfellow Base Tax Center this year; however, due to the low number of civilian volunteers, hours have been reduced. The base tax center will be open from February 5th through April 13th offering a variety of free services including electronic filing, to assist active duty, retirees, reservists on active duty, and their military families.

The tax center is located in the base library (Bldg. 538) and will be staffed by volunteer income tax representatives trained by the Internal Revenue Service. The hours of operation will be 10 a.m. to noon Monday and Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday. To make an appointment, please call the Legal Office at 654-3203.

One more free service for tax filing is http://www.militaryonesource.com. To be eligible for this service you must fall under one of these categories: active duty, guard and reserve (regardless of activation status), spouse or dependent children (authorized in DEERS). Please check the website's questions and answers section for further eligibility options.

When you are prepared to file your tax return, you need to bring the following (if applicable): - Military I.D. - All W-2 Forms - HUD-1 Forms - Proof of Child Care expenses - All 1099 INT and DIV Forms - Power of Attorney, if necessary - Form 1098, mortgage interest statement - Any other tax-related documents that you may have - Receipt for Deductible Expenses if itemizing deductions - Social Security cards (yourself, spouse and/or dependents) - Proof of bank account (a void check/deposit slip) if direct deposit is requested - First-year Airmen need to know if a parent is claiming them as a dependent - Last years tax return if available

The UTAs are limited to individual income tax assistance. The staff is unable to provide advice or assistance to anyone owning a private business. However, taxpayers may fill out a form Schedule C (on their own) and bring it in with the rest of their tax documents for electronic filing.