Free tax service this Saturday on base

  • Published
  • By By Lee Anne Hensley
  • Hilltop Times staff
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  The Internal Revenue Service has dubbed March 21 as Super Saturday to "make it easier for taxpayers to get the free help they need in difficult financial times," the agency said in a media advisory. In light of this nationwide event, the Hill Air Force Base Tax Center, located in the new consolidated customer service Building 430, will provide its free services on that day from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.

The Tax Center is usually open Monday through Friday during those same hours. On March 21, the center will be open and will have at least eight volunteer income tax advisers ready and eager to provide tax assistance to all active duty military, dependants, retirees and Reservists/guardsmen on active orders.

"We appreciate our volunteer tax advisers and their employers who allow them the time off to help our (military) folks out," said Shane Berg, Ogden Air Logistics Center Judge Advocate Office Tax Center manager. "Without their assistance, we'd never be able to do what we do (for Team Hill)."

The VITAs will take time away from their weekend to help process an expected majority of tax filings this Saturday.

"I'm expecting a lot of people to come in on Saturday, so I ask them to please be patient. We'll get you in and out as fast as we can while being accurate (with the filings)," Berg said.

For parents without child care arrangements, patience will need to be exercised by all parties. In the past, the Tax Center was located in the Hill Aerospace Museum, which made it more enjoyable for children to entertain themselves when accompanying their parents on this tedious errand, but this year's location may not be as enjoyable for children accompanying their parents this Saturday. Berg says the Tax Center fully understands and does not mind when parents need to take their children with them to file their taxes at the Tax Center due to lack of child care, but he warns that the wait time could be anywhere between 35 minutes to three hours or more.

Berg says the variety of possible tax filings and amount of anticipated clients can never be determined, making it impossible to promise a set wait time. However, he can promise that the VITAs will take the necessary amount of time to be thorough and accurate.

For more information about this event or other questions, please call the Hill AFB Tax Center at (801) 586-8634.