THE IMPORTANCE OF FILING TAX RETURNS

Settling with the Internal Revenue Service is often a painful thought.  However, beyond just doing your job as a citizen of this wonderful country and contributing your fair share to its operation, tax return filing can be a rewarding experience in a region such as ours, where incomes are relatively low for many of our residents.

The federal government is doing a great deal to encourage productivity among the people with low income and families to support with earned income and child credits, but that doesn’t help people if they don’t file for them.  Millions of dollars are left in the federal coffers every year instead of going into the pockets of people in Alaska and elsewhere because people simply don’t bother to file a tax return or don’t fully understand how to prepare their taxes.

Our economic development department just completed a tax assistance experiment in four of our villages, utilizing the expertise of Annabelle Alvite of the Alaska Business Development Center.  In reviewing or preparing a total of 28 tax returns  in Shungnak, Ambler, Noorvik and Selawik last week, she was able to generate $34,729.00 in tax refunds for our residents.  When you consider our region as a whole, that suggests that hundreds of thousands of dollars are likely being lost to our economy each year through a lack of adequate tax preparation.

This experiment has yielded one very significant result.  The Borough will begin conducting an extensive tax assistance program beginning next March, when 2004 taxes are coming close to being due.  Our goal will be to see that every family in this region reaps the full benefit of the tax laws, as well as fulfilling their obligations as taxpayers.  We will utilize a broad range of well-trained volunteers in that effort, which will keep the Borough cost to a minimum.

I would like to thank Annabelle and the Business Development Center for their valuable help to those 28 families.  The total cost to our Borough for that help was nothing more than travel costs of approximately $1,800.  I’d call that a wonderful investment on our part.

I’d also like to thank the residents of those four villages who demonstrated true Inupiat hospitality to Annabelle when she visited.  Her effort was greatly appreciated.

Northwest Arctic Borough Staff Directory

Northwest Arctic Borough
P.O. Box 1110 Kotzebue, AK 99752
(907)442-2500 (800)478-1110 Fax:(907)442-2930

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