AARP Foundation Tax Aide Site Serves Denver Spanish Speaking Community

Photographer: Andrey Popov

AARP Foundation Tax Aide Program has finished a third successful year of providing a valuable service to the low income Spanish speaking community in the Denver metro area. Located at Centro San Juan Diego a community center of the Denver Archdiocese, the Tax Aide site is the only one in the state focused primarily on serving Spanish monolinguals. Volunteer tax preparers at the site provided tax preparation services to approximately 230 clients this tax season almost double the number served during the first year the site opened.

Although final figures for 2013 were not available prior to this story’s deadline, in 2012 the bilingual site generated a total refund of $242,844, an amount that might otherwise have been lost to the Hispanic community. The average income of those filing in 2012 was $22,000 and the average refund amount was $1,958.00, providing a significant boost to low income households.

AARP Foundation Tax aide is the nation’s largest, free tax assistance and preparation program. Its dedicated corps of volunteers assists individuals with the preparation of their federal and state basic income tax returns. AARP hopes to expand its bilingual service next year. Even if you don’t have accounting or tax preparation experience, becoming a Tax-Aide volunteer may be right for you. Training is provided by AARP Foundation Tax-Aide in coordination with the Internal Revenue Service, on preparing forms and using tax preparation software.

For additional information on becoming an AARP Foundation Tax Aide volunteer, please contact Roberto Rey at rrey@aarp.org or 303-318-6763.