Free tax advice will be just a phone call away this upcoming weekend.
Members of the Westchester chapter of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants will once again be volunteering as part of the annual Tax Hotline Day.
The Westchester County Business Journal is again serving as media sponsor for the event.
At least a dozen CPAs will be on hand for this year”™s event, which will be held Feb. 11.
The volunteers, who will be working as groups of four in two-hours shifts, will be available to consumers with tax-related questions as they begin the process of filing their 2011 returns.
Robert Winton, a partner at the accounting and tax-advisory services firm Citrin Cooperman in White Plains and New York City, is again heading up the hotline and expects the hotline will again attract attention from dozens of those in need of expert ”“ and complimentary ”“ advice as they begin to tackle their tax forms themselves.
“Traditionally, we”™ve always gotten somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 to 60 calls,” Winton says.
And callers usually are very pointed in their queries.
“They”™re usually someone stuck on something,” he says. “It can get confusing.”
He says most callers are individuals who have stumbled on a certain aspect of the form when they sit down to do their taxes.
“We tend to get more questions related to individual tax returns,” Winton adds, though the hotline has also fielded questions from those with small businesses or in particular, those who are self-employed.
The advice, he says, is available for those needing help with both federal and New York returns.
“It”™s usually federal, but there”™s definitely some state issues. I”™d say on the state side businesses get more involved in state taxations.”
Most often, Winton adds, people”™s questions are related to changes from year to year.
This time around, he says, he expects those who file a Schedule D return may be in need of clarification, for example.
“They”™ve changed the format of how you report capital gains,” Winton says, noting that people also often ask about various credits and deductions.
“It”™s really a community service from our perspective,” Winton says of the efforts of the local chapter of the NYSSCPA. “We know the tax laws can be tricky.”
The Tax Hotline, at (914) 517-4257, will be accepting calls from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 11.
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