Volunteers Sought for 2016 Tax-Aide Program

The Sonoma/Napa District of the AARP Foundation’s Tax-Aide program is seeking volunteers to provide tax assistance for seniors and low-income taxpayers during the upcoming 2016 tax-filing season.

The Tax-Aide program operates on weekdays between February 1st and April 15th, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., at 15 different sites within the two counties.

Volunteers do not need to be an AARP member or have previous tax preparation experience to participate. The program provides free tax training for all volunteers in January. Volunteers should be available to work at least 4 hours per week during the tax-filing season. There are two different volunteer positions: client screener, helping people with their paperwork, and tax preparer, filling out tax forms (on the computer) for the clients.

The AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program is the largest free, volunteer-run tax assistance and preparation service in the country. In 2015, about 90 volunteers in the Sonoma/Napa district gave more than 7,000 hours of their time to help more than 5,000 people file their tax returns. The sites in the cities of Rohnert Park and Petaluma processed more than 800 tax returns.

For more information on how to join the AARP Foundation’s Tax-Aide team, go to www.aarp.org/taxvolunteer and follow the link at “Become a Volunteer”.