LIHU‘E — Tuesday was a historic day for Kay Liss, a Kaua‘i Community College student, at the AARP Taxaide site at the Lihu‘e Neighborhood Center.
“I’m an intern with the Kaua‘i Community College accounting program,” Liss said while leading a line of socially-distanced, certified tax preparers isolated from their respective clients. “I’m learning a lot, sometimes more than the textbooks.”
Brian Kasperek of the Kaua‘i AARP Taxaide program said he welcomes the addition of Liss to the battery of tax preparers.
“We’ve been trying to work with the college on trying to get interns,” Kasperek said. “Coleen Kasperek was an instructor with their accounting department, and kept trying to have interns come out. They learn a lot by doing this.”
Liss was part of the Taxaide team that kicked off its free tax preparation for 2021 tax season Monday in Hanapepe.
“We scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon, and by the time we left, it was nearly 2 p.m.,” Kasperek said. “Overall, we did pretty good, processing at least 16 returns.”
Due to the pandemic health and safety guidelines and rules, AARP Taxaide is doing taxes by appointment only.
“There will be absolutely no walk-ins,” Kasperek said. “We still have openings at all of the sites — Hanaepe, Kalaheo, Kaumakani, Kekaha, Koloa and Lihu‘e. But people need to have appointments scheduled.”
Call 481-8017 to schedule an appointment.
A client waiting for his tax return to be processed said it’s a fairly easy process, and should take about 20 minutes. “I’ve had my forms for about a month, waiting for this week,” the client said. “That’s enough time to fill out the forms and get everything ready. I just drove up, they checked that everything was in order, and now I’m just waiting for them to finish.”
w Info: 481-8017
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
