Tax-Aide volunteers needed for the 2025 tax season

As many people know, Westchester residents have for decades been able to get their taxes done by IRS-certified counselors throughout the county during tax season, February 1 through mid-April each year.

AARP’s free Tax-Aide program focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on taxpayers over 50 with low to moderate incomes. The returns we do are not always simple. Some taxpayers own houses, need to get a variety of credits (like education, energy, or dependent care credits), have dependents with their own tax situations, or want to amend a previously filed return.

Most of the volunteer counselors who do this work are retired, and we love what we do. But age will catch up with us eventually and we have to reach out to the retiree community each season to find new people who can help staff our sites.

I am particularly concerned with staffing at the Peekskill Neighborhood Center and the John C. Hart Library in Shrub Oak, and hope that readers of this article or anyone you may know might be interested in volunteering with us one day a week at either or both.

There are two ways you could serve. As a Client Facilitator, you’d help manage the flow of service at the site, welcoming taxpayers, organizing their paperwork and checking that what they bring us is in scope.

If you’d like to be more hands-on with actual returns, you could train and certify to become a Counselor. This position does not require tax prep experience (I certainly didn’t have any when I started!), but you do need to enjoy some intense study. You’ll get training materials from AARP and the IRS, your own Chromebook, and most importantly, a mentor.

All the volunteers have to take two short tests (open book) on standards of conduct and intake/interviewing. The Counselors, though, would have to take a more rigorous test on actual tax issues, but it too is open book. You’d have two chances to pass each three tests.

If any of this has piqued your interest, please call 914-440-3086 and I’ll explain it all to you more fully. That’s the voicemail number I use during the tax season, so please leave your name and a good time to call you back.

Being part of this community has been one of the most satisfying things I’ve done in my retirement. If you really like helping people but need to find something that intellectually satisfies you at the same time, the Tax-Aide program may very well fit the bill.