Camp Arifjan tax center opens

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Regina Machine | Spc. Ashley Field, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, paralegal specialist and St. Paul Park, Minn., native, explains a tax form to the first customer of the Area Support Group-Kuwait Tax Center during the grand opening here Jan. 30. The ASG-K Tax Center will be preparing taxes through April 16. Third Army is dedicated to sustaining the fight by allowing service members and Department of the Army civilians to file taxes overseas.  

CAMP ARIFJAN, KUWAIT

01.30.2012

Story by Spc. Bradley Wancour 

13th Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait – Area Support Group-Kuwait sponsored the opening of the ASG-K Tax Center in the legal assistance office Jan. 30.

“Even when we are deployed we have an obligation to file taxes, and this office is designed to facilitate that,” said Col. Robert Cheatham, ASG–K commander and Springfield, Va., native.

The tax center’s opening has been an annual event since 2002, and serves service members and Department of the Army civilians.
Since then, the tax center has saved $700,000 in fees by allowing customers to file taxes free of charge.

“It allows people to keep money in their pockets,” said Cheatham.
The staff of the tax center is comprised of soldiers coming together with the common goal of helping customers file taxes.
“We appreciate those soldiers who have come from a variety of commands to take on this mission, not only here, but in all other camps in Kuwait as well,” Cheatham stated.

Each soldier working in the tax center went through two weeks of training to be properly certified to file taxes for others.

“To prepare taxes in a military tax center, they have to be certified at IRS basic, intermediate and military levels,” said Mary Kay Marlow, legal assistance and ASG-K Tax Center chief of client services and Indianapolis native. “The testing is done by IRS employees. I train them so they are prepared for it.”

There are many advantages to filing taxes through the ASG-K Tax Center, besides being free of charge.

“Sometimes there are credits that people don’t know about, so if they do it themselves, they won’t claim them,” said Marlowe. “We can help them catch a lot of that so they are getting every benefit they are entitled to.”

Also, filing while deployed will allow many service members the opportunity to receive their tax refund in time for Rest and Recuperation leave, said Marlowe.

The tax center will share an office with legal assistance here until April 16, when it closes until next tax season.

Third Army is dedicated to sustaining the fight by allowing service members and Department of the Army civilians to file taxes overseas.

• Date Taken: 01.30.2012
• Date Posted: 02.01.2012 02:55
• Story ID: 83108
• Location: CAMP ARIFJAN, KW