A YMCA staff member helps a taxpayer fill out paperwork
at a “drop-off” site, designed to serve individuals
without access to online resources.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdowns in March 2020 and tax preparation moving almost entirely to a digital space, the ability of the “technologically challenged” to access necessary tax preparation assistance has starkly declined. This left many in the community to face a much more serious potential threat — their COVID-19 stimulus checks being lost. Having a tax return filed would increase the chances of a speedy receipt of those stimulus checks.
Fortunately, with the support of a generous gift from City National Bank and with collaboration with the Volunteers of America, PARS Equality Center, and the YMCA, the CSUN VITA Clinic was able to implement a drop-off method at their VITA tax preparation sites.
“Though ‘technologically challenged’ might invoke a negative connotation at first,” said Angelica Romera, project manager at the Volunteers of America in Hollywood, “it only refers to those who don’t have the access, resources or ability to file their taxes through our online portal.”
This drop-off method is as simple as it sounds. Taxpayers come to one of the locally run sites – the Volunteers of America in Hollywood, PARS Equality Center in Encino, or either the YMCA in Van Nuys or Reseda – with all their tax documents and identification, then drop them off with one of the tax preparers.
The documents are then uploaded by staff to a secured virtual platform, which the CSUN VITA Clinic volunteer can access to prepare the return remotely. Taxpayers can then come back to one of the sites where they initially dropped off their tax documents to receive their tax return.
COVID-19 ran a large risk to taxpayers who were more susceptible to the virus in all drop-off sites, so safety became the top priority. “We wanted clients to feel safe when they dropped off their tax documents to us and so everyone in the office followed strict COVID-19 precautions,” said Lionnel Zaragoza, project manager at the YMCA in Van Nuys. “We didn’t want a health risk to turn into a financial one for those coming to our facility.”
“We’ve had some clients send us thank you cards for our services,” said Romera. “We’re glad we can give them peace of mind, especially during a pandemic.”