Free, expert help available

By Aubrey Ann Parker
Current Editor

At the age of 84, just five months before his own death on April 17, 1790, Benjamin Franklin penned one of his most famous quotes while writing to French scientist Jean-Baptiste Le Roy about the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the start of the new government:

“Our new Constitution is now established and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

While the concept of  “death and taxes” existed before him, the posthumous publication of Franklin’s papers cemented the proverb as a staple in American popular culture.

Interestingly enough, “Tax Day,” as it has come to be known, is slated every year just two days after the anniversary of Franklin’s death, continuing to link his legacy with that of “death and taxes”—individual income tax returns are due on April 15 to the state of Michigan and the federal government’s Internal Revenue System (IRS).

Tax season—which we are now in the midst of—can be stressful.

But here in Benzie County, there are volunteers who are helping people to file correctly and on time.

Free Tax Prep
For the past decade, Dave Wynne (78) has helped hundreds of people to file their taxes—and he has not taken a penny for himself.

In his former life, Wynne lived in Illinois and worked in sales and marketing for a company that manufactures court reporting equipment using some of the earlier iterations of artificial intelligence (AI). He remembers reading about a program in which people making under a certain income level could get free tax services.

“Maybe it was in the Chicago Tribune?” Wynne muses. “I wanted to help out when I first learned about this program, back when I was still working, but I traveled a lot for work, and I didn’t have the time that was required. I figured it would be something I could do when I retired.”

So when Wynne moved to Frankfort full time in 2014, he wasted no time—he began helping people to file their 2014 taxes at the beginning of 2015, commuting to Traverse City a few times a week.

Anyone who makes at or below $100,000 in adjusted gross income (AGI) is able to get free IRS-certified tax preparation. This free service is made possible by training through the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs—and in our area specifically, the program is administered through Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency, located in Traverse City, though their coverage area includes 10 counties throughout Northern Michigan, with other offices in Petoskey and Cadillac.

Though Wynne originally was driving to Traverse City to do taxes, just a few years later, he helped to bring the program down here to Benzie County, originally through a partnership with Benzie Senior Resources and then, just a couple of years ago, expanding the program to work with folks at Benzie Area Christian Neighbors (BACN), too. The program allows tax preparers to help file up to four years of income taxes and homestead property tax credits, as well as annual home heating credits.

Including Wynne, who is the site coordinator for the Benzie chapter of the VITA and TCE programs, there are currently just five volunteers servicing Benzie County, yet the group was able to do more than 450 tax returns last year with seven total volunteers, and they are on track to hit their goal of 500 this year.

Community members can pick up a tax packet at Benzie Senior Resources in Honor or at BACN in Benzonia, or they can call to request a packet. The taxpayer then pulls together all of the documents that are requested, and they can either drop off their information at either location or they can set up an appointment for a one-on-one tax session with one of the volunteers.

“If they choose the drop-off option, we also then follow up with a face-to-face meeting, but that only takes 20 minutes compared to the one-hour tax session if we work through it with them one on one,” Wynne explains. “We answer any questions that they might have.” 

While the Traverse City offices can help people throughout the year, the two Benzie programs run from early February through April 15. (The Benzie programs are also currently servicing some returns for seniors from the Manistee Council County on Aging via the  TCE program. Additional community partner offices for the NMCAA tax offering in neighboring areas include Charlevoix First Baptist Church and the Kalkaska Senior Center.)

Volunteers
Of the Benzie volunteers, only one person is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA): everyone else has learned “official” tax preparation in their retirement.

Betsy (69) and Terry (71) Taylor moved to Beulah from downstate in August 2021; she was an attorney who worked as the assistant superintendent of human resources and legal counsel for Monroe County Intermediate School District, while he was a school principal in Livonia.

This is the couple’s third year volunteering with the tax program.

“Terry is in Rotary with Dave [Wynne], who asked if we would be interested in helping,” Betsy Taylor says. “We work out of the Benzie Senior Resources program. Most of the people we work with are elderly, but a few are not. We really enjoy doing it; it’s a real source of satisfaction to help people out in this way. Especially when we are able to get them credits that they didn’t know they qualified for.”

She continues:

“A lot of them are living on social security, so every extra penny counts with them. It’s very satisfying work.”

Meanwhile, this is the first year that Linda Farrell (71) is volunteering as a tax preparer, though she has been very involved in our community in multiple other ways since she and her husband moved to Frankfort in 2013 from Indianapolis. 

Farrell currently works at Benzie Shores District Library, and she is a volunteer with hospice and The Garden Theater. She just completed a term on the City of Frankfort’s Planning Commission, and she formerly was a Benzie County commissioner for two years. In her past life, before the couple moved to Benzie County, Farrell worked as a doula and also taught English as a second language to refugees from all over the world.

She is embracing the challenge of learning to do other people’s taxes.

“It’s really exciting, but I’m taking it very slowly,” she says. “The other volunteers have been very patient with me, answering my questions. I’ve been doing the drop-off sessions rather than the sit-downs. So someone is quality controlling my work, and I can stop to ask questions. Once their taxes are completed, I have been meeting with them to go over any questions they might have.” 

She continues:

“My confidence is building, and pretty soon, I’ll be ready for the in-person sessions.”

Farrell first learned of the program many years ago, because her sister is a VITA tax preparer in Missouri.

“She always talked about how great it was,” Farrell says. “So I thought that this was something that I should be doing, too.”

Volunteer Prep
So what does it take to become a VITA tax preparer?

NMCAA has a week-long training process, and then there is an online course and testing by the IRS. Volunteers have to be recertified every year.

“A few of us attended a weeklong course online by the University of Michigan, which is covered by grants,” Wynne says. “We start the training and certification process in December, and it goes into January. In Benzie County, we started doing tax returns on February 10, and we go through April 15. In Traverse City, they start a little earlier than we do, and they will do returns through September. So if people can’t make the April 15 deadline down here in Benzie, they can always go up to the Traverse City offices later in the year.”

How many hours are volunteers dedicating per week to this endeavor?

“It really is at the discretion of the volunteer,” Wynne says. “I’m probably working 32 hours a week doing this. I’m usually working five days a week with client interviews over at BACN.”

Who uses these services?

“At BACN, it’s probably about 30 percent seniors, and the rest are all over the ballpark—families with young kids,” Wynne says. “Or the other day, I did a return for an 18-year-old who was filing her first tax return, and she’s also attending BACN’s program to get her GRE [Graduate Record Examination, or high school equivalency].”

He continues:

“A lot of people are younger families that qualify for earned income tax credits and child tax credits; that’s a big thing for the lower income people. That’s a nice thing about our tax system—there are lots of programs for those lower-income people.”

Wynne stresses that, even if you feel like your annual earnings are too low to necessitate filing, you should:

“There are a lot of people who live primarily on social security. They probably don’t have to do a tax return. We used to hear that all the time, ‘I don’t need to file my tax return.’ And maybe that’s true. But, there are a few reasons to do it: first, your social security number can’t be stolen as easily by someone else if it’s already in use and you are filing every year. Second, Michigan has some very generous tax credits for renters and homeowners to get property tax credits or home heating credits.”

This year, he notes, the maximum for the property tax credits is $1,800.

“A lot of our clients rely on that to pay their winter property tax bill,” he says. “It’s free for us to help them with their taxes, so they’re not paying more than they are getting back; sure, there is no guarantee, but you might just end up getting some money back!”

Home heating credits are for those people who are at or below the poverty line, and the credits are based on how much they pay for heat, Wynne explains. The payment goes directly to DTE or Consumers Energy or whoever their heat comes from. This credit is up to $400.

Who Is Served?
Wynne says that the volunteers can help people with their 2024 taxes, but they can actually go all the way back to 2021, if people are behind on filing.


“We can do back returns for the IRS and state of Michigan, but property tax credits are only available two years back and home heating credits a little over a year,” Wynn explains. “I have a person who had failed to file for 2022, ’23, and ’24. I just completed her returns, and I’ll be going over them with her soon. She has three children, and she’ll be getting significant returns back each year.”

He gives another example:

“There is a person who is a college student at the University of Michigan this year and hasn’t filed returns for many years, so I can go back to 2021 and file that, plus ’22, ’23, and ’24. We can go back as far as 2021 to help people, as long as they have their W2 and anything else we might need.”

Additionally, Wynne says that they can work with people who are self-employed, as well as small business owners.

“We’re not in a position to deal with anything that has depreciation or that sort of thing,” Wynne says. “But in terms of someone who is doing house cleaning, for instance. We have a number of contractors who do odd jobs. We can handle those sorts of things, like if they’re expensing some tools. But if anything is depreciating, that is ‘out of scope’ is the term [that the IRS uses.] We can handle small businesses; particularly self-employed people, we can help.”

He reiterates that if someone is not sure if they would qualify for this free program or not, they should just call to ask.

“If someone were to call, we could talk about their circumstances and see if there’s something we can do or if they need to go to a paid preparer,” Wynne says.

Here in Benzie County, we have more than 15,000 adults who are likely needing to file taxes and nearly 30 percent are age 65 or older, qualifying them as “seniors.” Moreover, the median household income here is just over $35,000—well below the $100,000 threshold.

In other words, there are many people here in our community who would qualify for these free tax preparations by the five dedicated volunteers at Benzie Senior Resources and BACN—and they are still taking new clients at this time, hoping to get to their goal of 500 people helped for the 2024 tax season.

“It’s so vital for people to have this service,” Farrell says, “People who are underserved, for sure, but really, taxes are daunting to everyone.”

She continues:

“All of the volunteers are really committed to making sure that everyone gets the credits that they are due. And it gives people ease to know that their taxes are being done correctly. I think it’s great.” 

Want to know if you qualify for NMCAA’s free tax preparation program? Check out NMCAA.net/free-tax-help/ online or call 231-525-0600 to reach Benzie Senior Resources or 231-882-9544 for Benzie Area Christian Neighbors (BACN). Want to learn more about how to become a volunteer for next year’s tax season? Send an email to djwyn4647@aol.com to reach Dave Wynne.

Featured Photo Caption: This is the first year that Linda Farrell (71) has volunteered as a tax preparer in Benzie County, where people earning $100,000 or less in adjusted gross income can get their taxes done for free. Photo by Aubrey Ann Parker.