MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII --
Marine Corps Base Hawaii service members, their families,
reservists and retirees can have their tax returns completed at the base tax
center, now through April 20, 2015.
The tax center is located in building 455 near the veterinary
clinic.
“The mission is to operate a full- time tax center
augmented with trained personnel for Marine Corps Base Hawaii and tenant
commands in order to provide tax return preparation assistance for eligible
customers,” said Capt. Adam Lindberg, the officer in charge at the tax center.
“The purpose of the tax center is to provide MCB Hawaii service members,
reservists, retirees and dependents with free high-quality tax preparation and
filing.”
The tax center will be open Monday through Friday from 9
a.m. to 4 p.m. Walk-ins are accepted Fridays before noon. Walk-in priority will
be given to ranks E-5 and below for the first two weeks. The tax center
encourages visitors who cannot come in within that timeframe to call 257-1564.
All tax volunteers are service members who come from
different units and are required to be and are qualified by the IRS to file
taxes through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.
“There are two types of IRS training,” said Clark
Edwards, a volunteer tax preparer. “The first is a program called Link and
Learn (provided by the IRS), which is how we get our certification. The other
is classroom training provided by certified volunteers.”
Before coming into the tax center, patrons should bring
their: government-issued identification card, social security card (including
spouse and dependents), all tax documents (W-2, 1099), birth certificates for
dependents and last year’s tax returns.
“It’s important that patrons bring proper
identification,” Lindberg said. “We want to guard against identity theft and
those types of issues, which have become prevalent recently. With regard to tax documents, service members
need to go into their myPay account and print out their W-2 forms. Patrons also
need to bring in tax documents for any other source of income, such as stocks.
It’s (imperative) that anybody visiting the tax center bring in any relevant
IRS tax documents so we can be sure to do your taxes correctly.”
Another issue tax center visitors may face is not
receiving their return because of inaccurate information given to the tax
center.
“It’s important to bring your account number and routing
number for the account you want your refund deposited into because we do the
vast majority of our filing electronically,” Lindberg said. “If your return is
submitted with an inaccurate account number, patrons could face some problems.”