Tax Man
Helping low-income wage earners figure out their 1040s, for free.

By Karen Feldscher

Come tax time, some people need all the help they can get. Especially low-income or elderly taxpayers, who may not have the resources to hire an accountant or a tax-preparer to fill out their forms.

There is help, though—free help. Through the nonprofit organization Community Tax Aid of Boston, associate accounting professor Tim Rupert and a cadre of volunteers help between 125 and 150 people file their federal and state taxes each year.

From February through mid-April, Rupert and his tax-knowledgeable troupe work every Saturday morning in a Dodge Hall computer lab, spending at least one hour with every person who comes through the door. People are seen on a first-come, first-served basis.

To be eligible for assistance, individuals can’t earn more than $30,000 a year. Those who are married or have families can’t earn more than $40,000.

After a volunteer has filled out a client’s tax forms, Rupert himself gives them a final review. Clients get their completed forms in triplicate so they don’t have to make any copies. Once a form is done, says Rupert, “all they have to do is put a stamp on it.”

The tax-help center at Northeastern is one of about ten that Community Tax Aid runs in the Boston area. Altogether, the twenty-five-year-old organization helps about a thousand people a year.

Northeastern’s center is one of the busiest, Rupert says. In fact, Rupert himself is mighty busy—in addition to managing the Northeastern center and another one in Roxbury, he’s Com­munity Tax Aid’s director of training, as well as a board member.

Rupert, who started teaching at Northeastern in 1992, first learned about the organization from a Boston Globe ad. He began volunteering at a center near Northeastern that was about to close. As a result, he arranged for permission to move the center to the North­eastern campus in 1994, where it’s been ever since.

Since 2000, says Rupert, the North­eastern center has served roughly 420 taxpayers, helping them get back more than $400,000 in refunds.

“That’s the thing that really makes it worthwhile for me to spend a Saturday morning,” he says. “For the volunteers who are involved—some people from the community, and some students—there’s a real sense of how important this is when you look at the numbers.

“Some people who come into our centers are getting $1,000, or $2,000, or $3,000 back,” says Rupert. “And, for these people, that’s a huge amount of money.”

The Northeastern center, he adds, is the only one that also helps nonresident aliens. The center reaches out to this population by partnering with Boston's International Rescue Committee.

John Moschella, a graduate accounting student at Northeastern who begun volunteering with Community Tax Aid last year, says his tax-season Saturdays are really rewarding.

"Some people are so appreciative, because they had no idea how to do their taxes," he says. "They feel so relieved after it's done."

 Tim Rupert
 Photo by Heratch Eknekjian