Camarillo volunteer feels real return in preparing taxes pro bono
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

MICHELLE KNIGHT/Acorn Newspapers TAX HELP- Camarillo resident Linda Jackson, background, prepares the income taxes of the Guerrero family of Oxnard last week at El Concilio del Condado de Ventura, a community service agency in Oxnard. Jackson has been a volunteer tax preparer in the Earn It, Keep It, Save It! program since January. The program, a multi-agency partnership that includes the United Way of Ventura County, is a free service to Ventura County residents with a household yearly income of $39,783 or less and runs through April 11. Call 211 for more information.

Once a week, Linda Jackson of Camarillo chooses to spend her evenings preparing tax returns for other people ... for free.

Why?

"It's satisfying; it's something that I know how to do," said Jackson, a bookkeeper and financial analyst. "It's something I know people need done, and I enjoy it."

Jackson saw an ad in the Camarillo Acorn last December, asking for volunteers to prepare income tax returns for lowincome county residents. The next month, despite working a fulltime job, the 43-year old wife and mother of two signed up for the United Way program Earn It, Keep It, Save It! and went through two-and-a-half days of training by the Internal Revenue Service on her own time.

For the last two months every Thursday evening, Jackson has left her job in Port Hueneme and headed to downtown Oxnard to spend the next five hours preparing taxes.

"It's fun; it's challenging; it's critical thinking," Jackson said. "I enjoy a good puzzle."

The free service- Earn It, Keep It, Save It!- began on Jan. 22 and runs through April 11. It's available throughout Ventura County to residents with an annual household income of $39,783 or less. Call 211 for locations.

The goal is to encourage lowincome residents to save money by offering them a free service with the same benefits others pay for- electronic filing and direct deposit. The service was started three years ago through a partnership that includes the Internal Revenue Service, United Way of Ventura County and other nonprofit and social services agencies.

"It's a free service and we can help people," said Susan Englund, United Way's vice president of community impact.

Englund said a recent survey found 69 percent of Ventura County residents who received the Earned Income Tax Credit- what she calls the country's largest anti-poverty program- paid for someone to prepare their income taxes. Some services charge $100 or more- a sizeable chunk of money for lowincome households.

From January to mid-March, 15 volunteers have prepared and electronically filed the tax returns for 293 Ventura County households. Englund said she expects the final number this year to exceed the 345 returns filed electronically in 2007.

Englund encourages all lowincome residents, including seniors and those who otherwise would not file a tax return because they didn't earn enough in 2007, to take advantage of the free service and file this year.

Individuals who did not pay federal income taxes but who earned $3,000 or more will get a check for $300 from the federal government; couples will receive $600.

Jackson said besides enjoying a sense of fulfillment as a volunteer tax preparer, she has realized another benefit. Having prepared dozens of tax returns since January for individuals and families with widely-diverse situations, the financial analyst has become well-versed in the tax codes, rules and tables.

"This has been a major education," Jackson said. "I'm so thankful for the things I'm learning."