The
Challenge
Being
a stay at home mom for thirty plus years and then entering into the working
world has had many challenges. When
first starting out the questions that plagued me were, “Who will hire me and
what do I do?” The first place I spent a
lot of time at was the WorkSource office.
I took some classes (Word, Excel, Resumes etc.) then started applying
for jobs using my resume. I applied for
many jobs and was actually hired for a couple of part time jobs that helped me
gain experience.
The question, “What do I do?” was
answered one day about four years ago as I was walking down a sidewalk. I came upon a sign that said “Tax Preparation
Class” with a web site giving the information and how to sign up. I did. I found myself registered, starting a six week
course in how to prepare tax returns. Upon
completion of the course you might be considered for employment. My thought was, “If I don’t get hired I will
be able to do our own taxes and save money!”
My
first day of class everything was new, scary and intimidating. In my mind of comparisons, I was least on the
scale of knowledge and everyone else (I thought) was really smart. It seemed they had at least a two year degree and
were either an engineer, teacher, or CPA.
The pressure of learning a new skill, passing the class, and not knowing
anyone left me feeling very alone and inadequate.
After
getting the text book and doing the first lesson, I found that it was in an
easy to read style with open book quizzes at the end of each chapter. The class
was divided into study groups, question and answer time. The teacher was down to earth and had been a
stay at home mom with no degree. It
seemed as if I would fit in.
While
working through each lesson I realized that preparing a tax return is much the
same as putting together a puzzle, as my mom would say, “Inch by inch is a cinch,
yard by yard is very hard!” Step by
step, I started understanding the concepts of basic tax law and completing a 1040
tax return. I learned that to start a
tax return first I had to gather the personal information such as: name,
address, single, married, dependents and what line that information goes on and
why. Next were types of income: was it
wages, retirement, self employment, foreign income. In addition, what other forms may have to
accompany the tax return? Finally, finding out if and what kind of credits can
go with the tax return. Is there a child
credit, a school credit, a business credit, plus many others. There are many details in a tax return that
has to have detailed research before it can be completed. A great resource, that I leaned on, was The
Publication 17. You can get it free either
by ordering it from the IRS web site or picking it up at the local tax office.
Another
challenge I faced was learning a new computer program that the tax return was
going into. I am a grandmother, with
limited computer knowledge (the most I ever did was type emails or search on
line for something). The students got to pick a study buddy and had to share
the computer. I chose to watch my study buddy and learn the
program before taking my turn. Between us,
we were able to get through the program, putting the tax information where it
belonged. The hard thing about that was
each line or section of the tax return would go into separate pages in the
program, looking totally different than on the 1040 form. It was very mind boggling.
The
final step, after preparing the tax return, is filing it. There are a two different ways to file your
tax return. You can either mail it in or
electronically file. Either way your
return has to be sent in by the deadline, which is usually April 15. If you miss the deadline there are fees,
penalties, and interest that will be owed to IRS.
The
tax class was held two times a week, three hours per night for six weeks. After each class we had an assignment to do
at home. Once the lesson was complete (could
be several sessions for one lesson), we had a test. Oh, the dreaded test! I have never been a test taker, especially
with other people in the room and a time limit.
The tests were open book. They included
a “scenario” as an example to go by, putting it into the computer program, and
finding out the end result. If we didn’t
pass we could retake the test or study it more to find out if we missed
anything in the scenario.
Most of the tests I passed, but the final test
was the one that really counted. The difference was, you could only do it one
time and it was not open book. During
the whole course I was the one who had trouble putting the concepts together
and the last one to finish. It was the
same with the final test. We all got
started, had our turn, and it took me the longest time. All my doubts about what I had learned, my
inadequacies, came flooding back. I kept
on, finished the test and the class.
When I got my results from the test I scored a 92%! I had done it; I had
succeeded.
The
interesting part in all this was: if you
passed the course you could get an interview and be hired. Well that was my goal from the beginning. The stay at home mom going out into the world
questioning, “Who will hire me, what do I do?”
I had just proved that I could do something; now to see if I would get
hired.
I was called for an interview, which
was a scary process, but after being interviewed, they offered me employment. I
accepted. I have now worked for them for three tax seasons. I have completed over five hundred tax
returns. I have taken and passed the
Registered Tax Return Preparer test.
Now, here I am going to college and working on my business degree.
The challenge of getting out of my
box, learning and moving forward has helped me to overcome many of my fears and
inadequacies and the way I view myself and the world around me.
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