Tax help available in Orange Beach

The tax man is coming and if you need help on preparing and filing your taxes volunteers working the AARP will again be offering their services here.

Beginning on Feb. 3 and continuing every Tuesday and Friday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., some taxpayers are eligible for help at the Orange Beach Adult Activity Center. The center is located on Canal Road in Orange Beach next to the public library.

According to Ed Nowicki, coordinator of the tax volunteers, low to moderate income earners can the center at 251-981-3440 to make an appointment for the service.

“I’ve been doing it in Orange Beach about 10 years,” Nowicki said. “AARP has been doing it forever I think. Last year in Orange Beach we helped 265 people. Both locals and we do snowbirds.”

The preparers are all volunteers who must not only donate their time to prepare taxes, but also for training before the service begins.

“We are all volunteers and we do have to take training every year,” Nowicki said. “And we do have to take a test to be certified by the IRS to do taxes. We do taxes for seniors and we also do a number of younger people who work like in the restaurants and for condo cleaning and stuff like that.”

The service includes filing the forms for taxpayers. Last year the preparers filed taxes for clients from 17 different states.

“We do the taxes on the computers and we electronically file and they can get a refund either by check or direct deposit if they’ve got a refund coming,” he said.