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WHERE’S MY REFUND?
Although the April 15 deadline for filing returns has come and gone CTA has heard from our taxpayers. We consider ourselves a year-round organization and will help anyone, anytime, with their needs. The number one question we have heard from our taxpayers lately is about their refund. Specifically, when is it supposed to arrive.
Several factors affect our answer to that question. First, is the taxpayer requesting a Recovery Rebate Credit they insist they did not receive? Are they asking for an Additional Child Tax Credit? These credits, representing money in the pockets of those who need it, cause the IRS to employ even more time and effort to resolve. The government wants to make sure that those deserving taxpayers do indeed get what they are entitled to. This has slowed the processing of returns and of refunds.
The IRS website lists several reasons why a return and its potential refund has not been processed. A partial list from the website includes:
⦁ Errors, such as incorrect Recovery Rebate Credit
⦁ Is incomplete
⦁ Needs further review in general
⦁ Is affected by identity theft or fraud
Additionally, paper filed returns add time to the review and process functions. As evidence of this, look at the photo above. It shows a room full of paper returns at the Austin, Texas IRS office. According to our CTA colleague who shared this photo with us, this room used to be the employees’ cafeteria! And the returns in this room could be for years prior to tax year 2021. This, coupled with a shortage of IRS staff, has caused scenes such as this. So if you know of someone who is asking about their refund, just show them this photo.
CTA BOARD OF DIRECTORS – 2022/2023
At our annual meeting held on Tuesday, July 12, the following twelve individuals were elected to represent our organization for the next fiscal year.
Isabella Acuapan Rob Barna Ira Bowles Tomer Chen
Nishtha Dwivedi Annie Fernandez Emil Gomez Kristal Lohr
Trenise Patterson Tamara Sokolowsky Zaw Min Thien Dan Zuk
This list is tentative as of the date of this newsletter. As a courtesy we will be reaching out to three individuals from last years’ board who, unfortunately, did not attend the annual meeting to gauge their interest on remaining on the board. An election of officers of the board will be held at out next meeting.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF BOARD MEMBERS
CTA congratulates the individuals mentioned above. Serving on the board comes with the responsibility of steering our organization through our next tax season, our 54th. We ask board members to attend all meetings and serve on at least one of our committees. Committee work is the backbone of CTA. The following is a list and responsibilities of our committees.
1) VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATION
a. Recruiting 1) Send out recruitment emails and mailings to local colleges and companies; 2) Attend recruiting events; 3) Attend Career Fairs - We have a particularly strong need for people to attend career fairs on behalf of CTA. Contact and maintain active dialogues with local college career centers, accounting departments, etc;
b. Produce/write/enhance recruitment materials.
c. Send out a weekly email to all volunteers during tax season to 1) assess volunteer satisfaction, 2) address any issues/problems/concerns that arise, 3) keep volunteers updated on CTA recent accomplishments, 4) thank volunteers for their service.
d. Send out an email to all volunteers who attended a CTA training session, but who did not subsequently volunteer, to encourage them to volunteer with CTA.
e. Maintain volunteer list, including 1) name, 2) email address, 3) storefront location attended, 4) weekly attendance record/hours of service, 5) how learned of CTA.
f. Identify/recruit top volunteers to take on larger roles within CTA, including future site managers.
g. Distribute CPE credit letters & volunteer certificates.
2) PUBLICITY
a. Client recruitment: 1) Send out recruitment emails & mailings; i. Educational institutions, community boards, politicians, media, etc.; 2) Distribute postings/pamphlets/brochures, etc.
b. Produce/write/enhance client recruitment materials.
c. Identify new geographic areas, locations, and opportunities for client recruitment.
d. Newsletter 1) write articles; 2) solicit articles; 3) prepare newsletters; 4) the Storefront Accountant: 5) Distribute newsletter
3) FUNDRAISING
a. Grant investigation and preparation.
b. Registration with Network for Good.
c. Write fundraising letters.
d. Publicize need for funds.
e. Solicit donations directly.
f. Maintain relationships/active dialogues with current donors.
4) TRAINING
a. Find and confirm locations and dates.
b. Prepare training schedule.
c. Secure trainers.
d. Prepare and reproduce training materials.
5) PHONE MESSAGES
a. Retrieve messages from answering service and respond or redirect to someone who will know the answer. i. We have a voicemail service through a company called Ninja Number.
5A) PHONE MESSAGES – SUBCOMMITEE
As discussed above, qualified board members will comprise a subcommittee responsible for addressing more complex, tax-related client issues/questions that are received on our answering service.
6) VIRTUAL COMMITTEE
a. Ensure virtual infrastructure to process tax returns is in place.
b. Educate volunteers as to how communicate virtually with clients.
7) TECHNOLOGY
a. Collaborate with Virtual Committee to build virtual infrastructure.
b. Maintain/update CTA website.
c. Provide IT/Tech support for other committees/volunteers/etc.
d. Maintain social media (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram).
8) SOCIAL MEDIA
Primary responsibilities are to maintain and update CTA's Facebook and LinkedIn pages
If you are interested in serving on one of these committees, fill out our application. You can access it via Google Sheets here.
CTA CALENDAR – NEXT BOARD MEETING
The next meeting of the CTA board is scheduled for Tuesday, August 9, 2022, from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. The meeting will be held remotely via ZOOM. Here is the link for the meeting:
Topic: CTA Board Meeting
Time: Aug 9, 2022 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86822806115?pwd=MjI1OFBybkNXZy80RGdRTnVCYktqQT09
Meeting ID: 868 2280 6115
Passcode: D13F4u
Dial by your location
+1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
+1 646 931 3860 US
Meeting ID: 868 2280 6115
Passcode: 431878
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdMM5ncWYs
All are welcome.
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