Almost immediately after taking her seat on the Indiana Tax Court, Judge Martha Blood Wentworth saw the problem.
Flowing into her court were numerous pro se litigants who ended up getting their cases bounced because they had made a procedural error. They either did not have resources to hire an attorney or the amount of money at stake was too low to make getting a lawyer cost beneficial.
Adding to the dilemma were the materials available to help pro se litigants. Wentworth found pamphlets out of date, and sample petitions were so complicated that figuring out how to complete them is difficult.
That the pro se litigants made errors in presenting their cases is not surprising. However, while the motion to dismiss was warranted, the judge worried the individuals who got their cases tossed were going to lose respect for the government.
...
Many agree with Wentworth that there is a gap in pro bono services for tax issues. Joshua Abel, executive director of the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, attributed the need to the economic recession which has depleted disposable income, making any kind of financial hit significant for families, as well as to the government tightening collection practices to cover revenue shortfalls.
Without assistance, Abel said people will get a bigger bill. In turn, they will then have less money to cover other household expenses like mortgages.
Determining the size of the need is difficult because much of the information is anecdotal. However, statistics from the Indiana Department of Revenue Tax Advocacy Office give some indication of how big the demand for help is.
Emerging from the worst of the recession, the tax advocacy office opened 3,055 new cases during fiscal year 2011. This is a sizable increase from the 2,738 cases created in fiscal year 2010 but the influx evaporated during fiscal year 2012 when 2,667 cases were created. These are typically cases that can’t be resolved through the normal collections process, such as hardship cases.
Tax problems are not just a headache for those with lower incomes. Tax questions arise when selling a company, closing a business or getting a divorce. It affects everybody in their personal lives.
“There is not anything you can do in life that doesn’t have a tax on it,” Wentworth said. “There is always a tax aspect no matter what.”
At the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, tax issues are often tied to personal safety. Individuals suffering in abusive relationships may have an even harder time leaving because a looming tax liability could crush them financially, explained Kerry Hyatt Blomquist, legal counsel for the organization.
Abusers sometimes continue the abuse through the financial system by forging a spouse’s signature on an income tax form, or using false Social Security numbers or falsely claiming children as dependents. The resulting tax liability from such actions can be so daunting that some survivors are actually opting to stay with the abuser for financial protection.
For federal tax issues, the Internal Revenue Service is approachable but a solution might not come quickly, Blomquist said. And, while forms and instructions are available online, reading through the IRS literature can be overwhelming and intimidating.
The best practice, according to Blomquist, is to make sure the survivor’s advocate is giving attention to tax concerns as well as the other issues.
...
See the full article here:
http://www.theindianalawyer.com/attorneys-use-pro-bono-tax-work-to-fill-the-gap/PARAMS/article/31041
Flowing into her court were numerous pro se litigants who ended up getting their cases bounced because they had made a procedural error. They either did not have resources to hire an attorney or the amount of money at stake was too low to make getting a lawyer cost beneficial.
Adding to the dilemma were the materials available to help pro se litigants. Wentworth found pamphlets out of date, and sample petitions were so complicated that figuring out how to complete them is difficult.
That the pro se litigants made errors in presenting their cases is not surprising. However, while the motion to dismiss was warranted, the judge worried the individuals who got their cases tossed were going to lose respect for the government.
...
Many agree with Wentworth that there is a gap in pro bono services for tax issues. Joshua Abel, executive director of the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, attributed the need to the economic recession which has depleted disposable income, making any kind of financial hit significant for families, as well as to the government tightening collection practices to cover revenue shortfalls.
Without assistance, Abel said people will get a bigger bill. In turn, they will then have less money to cover other household expenses like mortgages.
Determining the size of the need is difficult because much of the information is anecdotal. However, statistics from the Indiana Department of Revenue Tax Advocacy Office give some indication of how big the demand for help is.
Emerging from the worst of the recession, the tax advocacy office opened 3,055 new cases during fiscal year 2011. This is a sizable increase from the 2,738 cases created in fiscal year 2010 but the influx evaporated during fiscal year 2012 when 2,667 cases were created. These are typically cases that can’t be resolved through the normal collections process, such as hardship cases.
Tax problems are not just a headache for those with lower incomes. Tax questions arise when selling a company, closing a business or getting a divorce. It affects everybody in their personal lives.
“There is not anything you can do in life that doesn’t have a tax on it,” Wentworth said. “There is always a tax aspect no matter what.”
At the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, tax issues are often tied to personal safety. Individuals suffering in abusive relationships may have an even harder time leaving because a looming tax liability could crush them financially, explained Kerry Hyatt Blomquist, legal counsel for the organization.
Abusers sometimes continue the abuse through the financial system by forging a spouse’s signature on an income tax form, or using false Social Security numbers or falsely claiming children as dependents. The resulting tax liability from such actions can be so daunting that some survivors are actually opting to stay with the abuser for financial protection.
For federal tax issues, the Internal Revenue Service is approachable but a solution might not come quickly, Blomquist said. And, while forms and instructions are available online, reading through the IRS literature can be overwhelming and intimidating.
The best practice, according to Blomquist, is to make sure the survivor’s advocate is giving attention to tax concerns as well as the other issues.
...
See the full article here:
http://www.theindianalawyer.com/attorneys-use-pro-bono-tax-work-to-fill-the-gap/PARAMS/article/31041
