Tax help for seniors may be on horizon

A yearly tradition of offering seniors free tax preparation assistance nationwide was interrupted last year upon the arrival of COVID-19.

Now, locals are wondering if the tradition will resume this year.

The program, spearheaded by AARP, was shut down in the early days of the coronavirus. Later in June, the 50-and-over interest group announced it would wait until 2021 to re-open services, offering online options in the interim.

Free tax preparation aid to seniors who can’t afford professional services have been made available in other areas throughout the country in the past two weeks, but to date, no locations have opened in Kootenai County.

After calling the service’s hotline Monday to search for a nearby location, both the operator and AARP’s website confirm the closest available location is the Hillyard Senior Center in Spokane.

That, however, could change, as The Press confirmed a second wave of new locations will be announced soon, possibly as early as Friday.

AARP officials wouldn’t say with certainty if a Kootenai County location will be included in that next round, as AARP offices were closed Monday in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. However, AARP Idaho’s director of communications said they're preparing to help seniors amid some mayhem.

“Everything’s crazy right now,” Randy Simon said. “Different parts of the state are doing different things based on venues, volunteers and a few other factors.”

Nationwide, the free service AARP provides has been clogged with logistical problems that mimic the same issues the Kootenai County Elections Office faced in the run-up to November: a shortage of volunteers wary to meet face-to-face during a pandemic; a shortage of usually-reliable venues; and the potential of depressed demand from people simply unwilling to risk contracting the disease the World Health Organization reports has claimed more than 2 million lives worldwide.

But the AARP Foundation has set up online assistance to help answer tax questions. And the foundation is updating its website Friday to include additional tools to help filers navigate their taxes this year.