Volunteer program helps needy file returns
Volunteers offer to fill out returns
For most people, the prospect of doing their tax returns is either daunting, aggravating or simply impossible.
For Thérèse Taillefer, it’s a passion, which is why she does as many as 150 of them a year. For complete strangers. Free.
“I love numbers, unlike most people,” said Taillefer, who retired last spring after 20 years of handling the bookkeeping for a community organization. “I love numbers and the contact with people. The best is when you get to announce the person is getting money back. Especially for students working part time. I tell them: ‘You’re going to be buying yourself a nice big lunch.’ ” Taillefer is one among an army of 3,000 volunteers in Quebec who fill out 160,000 tax income returns every year for low-income individuals or families unable to fill them out themselves or who cannot pay a professional. Many volunteers fill out between 500 and 1,000 tax forms annually during tax season.
Called the Volunteer Program in Quebec, it has existed for nearly 30 years in the province and nearly five decades in Canada. It is jointly run by the Canada Revenue Agency and Revenu Québec.
On Saturday, Diane Lebouthillier, minister of National Revenue, and Quebec Finance Minister Carlos Leitao came to a training session organized for the volunteers in Montreal to announce the government was creating discussion forums so community groups, who arrange the free tax services to clients, can iron out wrinkles in the system. Minor irritants, like the cost of printing long tax forms, or organizing and paying for $80 criminal background checks, can create major headaches for groups with tight budgets, Leitao noted.
“Our fiscal system is becoming increasingly complex, so people need assistance in navigating the complexities of the system,” Leitao said. “We developed a large number of programs that benefit low-income families, but for them to benefit they have to fill out an income tax report.”
The government also announced a pilot project agreement with the Quebec Public Library Association to provided computer-equipped spaces to community organizations to hold training sessions and tax clinics.
Individuals might be hesitant to file their returns for fear of having to dole out $200 in payments, but programs like the child tax benefit alone can bring in $1,500 in cheques throughout the year, volunteers said. The tax system is designed to benefit low-income earners, but they need to know how to apply at tax time.
Taillefer said she can do a simple provincial or federal return — say a retired person with no extra income — in 20 minutes. A more complicated form can take slightly over an hour. Sometimes, she does them face to face but, more often, the forms are dropped off with a community group and she collects them and fills them out.
The most common error: not bringing in medical receipts, be it for medication or equipment like a cane or walker, that can be claimed and help generate a larger payback.
Asked why she does this work free, Taillefer pauses for a few seconds.
“I am a human being and I am surrounded by human beings, and it happens more and more that it seems the government forgets they are there because of humans,” she said.
“We are not machines, we are not robots — it is all about human contact. If my little contribution can raise the morale of these human beings who are in so much misery because the government forgets it’s dealing with living beings, it gives me pleasure.”
The government notes volunteers do not need to be tax specialists, since they generally have to work on simple tax returns. To learn more, visit revenuquebec.ca/ volunteer
I love numbers and the contact with people. The best is when you get to announce the person is getting money back.