Tax-Aide Volunteers Try to Meet Language Needs

By Elizabeth Blish Hughes

When immigrants from Southeast Asia come into the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide office in Sunnyvale looking for help preparing their returns, they often turn to Elaine Tran.

A self-described “boat person” who arrived in the United States from Vietnam in 1979, Tran said the taxpayers who look for her “are more comfortable speaking their own languages.

“When I explain, they understand more clearly,” said Tran, 56, who speaks three Asian languages—Vietnamese, Mandarin and Cantonese—in addition to English. “To help them makes me feel great.”

Regina Wong, a volunteer in Sunnyvale for six years, described Tran as “our unsung hero” and the “go-to person for people who come in without a family member to translate.”

Since 1968, the Tax-Aide program has assisted nearly 50 million low- to moderate-income taxpayers across the country, focusing on those who are 50 and older. Staffed by IRS-certified volunteer tax preparers, the program offers free help on simple returns to anyone, no matter their age or membership status.

In California last year, 2,905 volunteers at 415 sites served 197,622 taxpayers, whose refunds totaled $96.5 million. Many taxpayers speak languages other than English, and the Tax-Aide program tries to help them all.

‘They can trust us’
Spanish is the dominant non- English language spoken in the state. But California also has the nation’s largest Asian American population.

Many Asian American Californians speak English fluently. But there are many who don’t, said Wong, a retired IT consultant who was born in Hong Kong and speaks some Cantonese.

“Most of them are senior citizens, and they are targets for many scams,” she said. They turn to Tax-Aide because “they know that they can trust us.”

Often taxpayers who do not speak English fluently bring a family member to interpret for them, such as a Korean man who arrived with his teenage son, the interpreter.

“The dad would nod, and at the end he was shaking my hand,” Wong said. She noted that they didn’t realize the father could obtain affordable health care through Covered California until she reviewed with them what his monthly premium would be.

Paul Nibarger, 74, a retired corporate banker who is going into his 12th season as a volunteer tax preparer, coordinates the Los Angeles Tax-Aide territory, which includes 85 sites in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. About 600 volunteers there prepared roughly 27,000 tax returns last year.

Last year, his territory had one site where most of the volunteers were Hispanic and another where they were almost all African American. This year he’s aiming to establish a Vietnamese-language site.

To receive help, bring a photo ID, such as a driver’s license, for everyone filing the tax return. You’ll also need last year’s state and federal tax returns and all current income information, including W-2 forms; unemployment compensation statements; and 1099 forms for miscellaneous income, Social Security benefits, pensions, annuities, interest income and dividends. Under the Affordable Care Act, you’ll also need to document your health insurance status.

Tax-Aide sites open Feb. 1 and close in mid-April.

To find an AARP Foundation Tax-Aide site near you, go to aarp.org/findtaxhelp or call 888-227-7669 toll-free.

Elizabeth Blish Hughes is a freelance writer living in San Francisco.