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By Stephanie H. Olsen
To help students who might be a little uncertain about what is all involved with this process, I tagged along with an undeclared sophomore, Brittany Goodsell, as she went to Room 117 in the Sci-Tech Library to have her taxes done. Below is her experience step, by step. Goodsell walked in the small ,cramped room filled with people, chairs and computers, Tuesday afternoon around 4. The lab had just opened, and there were already 20 people on the waiting list. She added her name at the bottom. She sat down to wait. Two hours later her name was called by the next available member volunteer, accounting junior, Hal Mitchell. Mitchell asked for Goodsell's W-2 forms. Mitchell then said, "I am going to be taking all of the information off of this form and putting it into our system. I just want you to know what I am doing so you don't get nervous. I promise, I know what I am doing." "OK, you know more about it than I do," Goodsell answered. "Do you have any bank statements with the interest you have accrued over the past year?" Mitchell asks. "No, I never left money in there long enough to accrue any interest," said Goodsell. Mitchell continued, "Did you receive any scholarships last year or have any itemized deductions? " Once again, Goodsell shakes her head no, as her long, nut-brown hair swings side to side. "Now I am just going to punch in these numbers and the computer will round them up or down for us," said Mitchell. "How soon will I receive my return?" Goodsell asks Mitchell. "Well, because we are entering your return directly into the IRS system, it won't get held up with all the other returns that are being mailed in. So you will actually get it faster than usual. It should take two, three weeks," answered Mitchell. Click, click, click and a couple more key strokes. Mitchell looks up and announces the end result -- Goodsell will get a couple of hundred bucks back from federal and state returns. "OK, I am just going to print this on our slow printer. I will need you to sign three copies of the same paper. One is for you and your own record. And the others are for us to keep in case the IRS has any questions. You don't need to mail your actual W-2 forms in, but I will staple them to our copies here. Do you have any more questions for me?" said Mitchell. Goodsell answers, "No. Thank you." Ten minutes after Goodsell sat down with Mitchell, she was done. Yes, it can be as painless as that. Mitchell later said, "Single students without any dependents are the easiest to do. But an average return takes about a half of an hour. The students just need to remember to bring their W-2s, any other forms regarding bank account interest. And school forms that have to do with scholarship and tuition payments if their parents aren't claiming them." When Goodsell was asked how she felt about her over all care at the tax lab she said, "It is definitely worth the wait. This was my second time coming and it is so worth it. I don't have money to pay anybody. It's free here and you can just get it done. They always do a great job." Members of Beta Alpha Psi would like to remind students coming in that the service is first come, first served. Sometimes the wait might take awhile. They want to remind students to just be patient and have all their forms ready when they come.
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