Minutes of Meeting - March 6, 2009

Minutes of the March 6, 2009 meeting of the Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club:

Prior to the meeting, printed copies of the list of member names and e-mail addresses were available.

President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204. The club discussed the question of how often the list of member names and e-mail addresses should be printed and handed out. On a motion by Bob Black, the club voted to have this list distributed every six months.The secretary will forward e-mail messages as needed to new members whose names and e-mail addresses are not on the most recent printed list.

Norm Knox mentioned SeniorNet facilities that are available to club members when they travel to other places. SeniorNet also has a Website that offers courses on a variety of topics besides just computer topics. These SeniorNet opportunities that go beyond SeniorNet courses in Sioux Falls do cost additional dollars. Norm reminded the members that letting the Center's office know about their interest in particular topics for computer classes can be helpful in getting their desired courses scheduled.

Due to a misunderstanding by the secretary, the name of Marvalyn Rollag was omitted from the printed list of members. She had wanted her name on the list, but without the e-mail address beside it. Members were given the opportunity to write in her name on their printed copies. The secretary apologized for two problems. The printed list came from the spreadsheet software, which prints small and has no option to increase the print size. The Yahoo e-mail account used for sending out the minutes has an invalid reply address which creates a problem for members who try to reply to a question that comes from that e-mail account.

Our speaker at this meeting was Charlotte Jaeschke. Ms. Jaeschke is Tax-Aide Coordinator for Sioux Falls for IRS and AARP. Tax-Aide is an all-volunteer group of tax-preparers, reviewers, facilitators, and the coordinator herself, who assist taxpayers of all ages who need help with their tax returns. Tax-Aide is jointly sponsored by AARP and the Internal Revenue Service. The volunteers use tax preparation software that runs on the preparers' PCs and Tax-Aide's highly reliable server. The IRS supplies this software. When taxpayer data is saved on the server, it is in encrypted form. The server has two hard drives that are mirrors of each other, and data is regularly copied and saved off-site on flash drives. During the off-season, all tax data is removed from the server and saved elsewhere and the server is put away in storage. With a taxpayer's permission, summary data from a return can be carried over from previous years to assist in the preparation of a new return. Taxpayers who use Tax-Aide for the first time should bring in their old tax returns. Taxpayers can also bring in their returns for the current year that they themselves have prepared. The assistance that Tax-Aide can provide has some limitations. Volunteers at Tax-Aide cannot go to court on behalf of taxpayers. High income level, inventory, or depreciation will take a taxpayer's return outside the scope of what the volunteers are trained for. On the other hand, Tax-Aide can help taxpayers who have received incorrect W-2 forms. All tax returns are reviewed, and two reviewers go over the work of four preparers. All volunteers must agree to respect the privacy of taxpayers. Tax returns are filed electronically (e-filing). After a return is prepared and is on the server, it has to go through a three-stage process. In the first stage, returns are submitted tentatively to the IRS. In the second stage, the IRS checks what has been submitted. The third stage consists of the actual electronic filing of the returns that the IRS has approved. People who want to do their own tax returns with computer assistance can use personal tax software, or they can go to tax-preparation Webpages at the IRS's Web site (irs.gov).

The club welcomes new member Linda Barnett.

Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary