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Only two things remain constant: Death and Taxes

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Larry W. Carpenter Jr.
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  The new year is here and that means two things: new years resolutions and taxes. Luckily, there is some help out there for those who need to get their 2007 taxes filed.

Team Fairchild, through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, has numerous unit tax representatives trained by the Internal Revenue Service who are ready to help. The volunteers went through a week-long training course designed by the IRS.

"The training was extremely difficult," said Airman 1st Class Joshua Chapman, 92nd Air Refueling Wing public affairs photographer. "It took tremendous energy and concentration to stay focused on the training, but it was worth it."

The goal of the base tax program is to assist members with their returns by providing a complete tax preparation service and electronic filing of both federal and state returns free of charge.

"Paid tax preparers charge approximately $150 for a basic federal and state return to be prepared and electronically filed," said Tech. Sgt. Ronnie Flores, 92nd Air Refueling Wing legal assistance and preventative law NCOIC.

The program is designed to help members of Team Fairchild save money and time this tax season.

"As an Airman, I'm looking for any way to save money," said Airman Chapman. "This is a great program for helping Airmen do just that, and I'm glad to be a part of it."

Members eligible to use the tax program include active duty servicemembers, retirees and dependents.

"Active-duty members and deploying members, including their dependents, are all top priority," said Sergeant Flores. "Then we assist retirees and retiree dependents."

It should be noted that not all of the tax representatives will be able to help retirees with their taxes due to manning constraints and the complexity of a retiree's tax return, said Sergeant Flores.

The tax program on base is geared to helping individuals prepare simple returns and the process takes roughly 30 minutes for a single filer to complete. It takes about an hour for a married filing joint return.

The tax representatives will be providing tax assistance until the tax filing deadline of April 15.

"Last year we offered tax filing assistance throughout the year to help our deployed members and their families," said Sergeant Flores. "We will have that same service available this year as well."

Anyone interested in using the tax assistance service available should call their local squadron representatives and schedule an appointment. As with any tax professional you visit, you must still provide the required IRS documents at your tax appointment like W2's and interest statements. Other unique documents that you may have to provide include powers-of-attorney, custody documents for children and divorce decrees.

"The VITA representatives have flexible schedules and usually see the client the next business day," said Sergeant Flores.

For any other questions or if you are not sure of who your tax representative is, please call the base legal office at 247-2838. Happy filing!

The list of Squadron VITA representatives is listed below: 

92nd Air Refueling Wing
Lt. Col. Christopher Harper: 247-5957
Staff Sgt. William Crandell: 247-3208
Senior Airman Jocelyn Ford: 247-2330
Airman 1st Class Joshua Chapman: 247-2330

92nd Operations Support Squadron
Tech. Sgt. Tracy Pete: 247-3640 

92nd Air Refueling Squadron
Capt. William Soto: 247-3976
Capt. Juan Amaya: 247-8060
1st Lt. Dan Bodine: 247-8060
1st Lt. Walter Hale: 247-8060 

93rd Air Refueling Squadron
1st Lt. Manuela Peters: 247-3422
Capt. Mark Thomas: 247-3965

92nd Maintenance Operations Squadron
Staff Sgt. Jared Wilson: 247-4934
Tech. Sgt. Valorie Whitehill: 247-2804
Tech. Sgt. Christopher Miller: 247-4747 

92nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Tech. Sgt. David Steele" 247-3109
Tech. Sgt. Scott Meyer: 247-8059
Staff Sgt. Dennis Demille: 247-3109
Airman 1st Class Aaron Evans: 247-3109

92nd Maintenance Squadron
Master Sgt. David Jackson: 247-5745
Master Sgt. Thomas Loggains: 247-8515
Master Sgt. Jeffrey Pursley: 247-5745 

92nd Mission Support Squadron
Linda Miles: 247-2246
Master Sgt. Woller: 247-2246
Tech. Sgt. William Scott: 247-2468 

92nd Contracting Squadron
2nd Lt. Stuart Perlow: 247-4884

92nd Civil Engineer Squadron
Staff Sgt. Ronald Weech: 247-2984
Senior Airman Justin Jones: 247-5215
Airman 1st Class Jesse Furse: 247-9330
Robert Bean: 247-5837

92nd Logistics Readiness Squadron
Master Sgt. Judith England: 247-5582
Staff Sgt. Scott Keith: 247-5247
Senior Airman Rachel Kegley: 247-3078\
Senior Airman Antwuan Jamison: 247-5815
Senior Airman Seth McMillan: 247-5247
Airman 1st Class Dan Chacko: 247-8440

92nd Communications Squadron
Master Sgt. Randall Brown: 247-2790

92nd Services Squadron
Karen Schmehl: 247-2545
Master Sgt. Erika Fisher: 247-2003
Tech. Sgt. Sacko Raffensperger: 247-5737 

92nd Medical Group
Tech. Sgt. Tracy Dunn: 247-2617
Master Sgt. Cynthia Klaus: 247-4299

22nd Training Squadron
Senior Airman Nick Sutherland: 247-8772