The Tax Man Is Back!

 

By Steve Bigham

Need help with your taxes? Ken Wilkinson is more than happy to give you a hand, and he does it free of charge. All you’ve got to do is show up at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library between 1 and 4:30 pm each Tuesday. He’ll be there until April 9.

The Newtown resident has become affectionately known as “The Tax Man.” He’s not an accountant, just a retired volunteer trying to help out those in need of a little assistance. He can walk you through those mind-boggling instructions provided by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or help you add up your deductions.

For Mr Wilkinson, providing a bit of tax assistance to the people of Newtown is just his way of giving back to the community. And believe it or not, the Birch Rise Drive resident claims he actually likes filling out tax forms.

Mr Wilkinson is now in his 15th year of providing tax assistance as a volunteer through the Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. This year, he reports already helping out about 25 people with their taxes. Many others, he said, are now filing electronically and say that process makes the task somewhat easier to do.

According to the 14-year Newtown resident, the IRS seeks out volunteers to take a course in “simple” income taxes. The federal tax collection agency then sends these quasi-accountants out to help those struggling with their 1040s, W-2s and the like. There is also a program for people over 60 at the senior center on Riverside Road.

During the more than 50 hours of free service to Newtown’s taxpayers, Mr Wilkinson occasionally sits around waiting for someone to come in, but there was often a line of residents waiting for his help.

Mr Wilkinson is retired from Lear-Seigler Company, where he served in the field of aerospace marketing.