When Felize Garvin needed help addressing a tax dispute,
she
turned to the Bookstein Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic for help.
You could have said it was a normal day, that is, until Felize Garvin, a local lettering artist, opened a notice from the Franchise State Tax Board to find a bill for $14,000.
“I had no idea what I was going to do.” said Garvin. “This was right after I’d lost my house and couldn’t keep my business afloat.”
The intricacies of the tax system can be daunting and complicated, and without the help of accountants, which can often be expensive, it can be nearly impossible.
“I was beyond my last straw,” said Garvin. “My business for the past five years wasn’t making a lot of income, so I thought I didn’t have to file. As soon as I got the notice, I called around endlessly looking for a tax office who could prepare my return, but I couldn’t afford their prices.”
Garvin called the Franchise Tax Board to try and explain her situation, when one of the staff told her about the Bookstein Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic. She immediately made an appointment with the clinic.
Unlike the CSUN VITA Clinic, the Bookstein Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic helps low-income taxpayers address disputes they have with tax authorities. Whether the dispute is with the Internal Revenue Service or the Franchise Tax Board, a team of undergraduate and graduate tax students provide free representation to the low-income taxpayers. Established in 2008 with the help of philanthropist and alumni Harvey Bookstein (’70) and his wife Harriet, the Bookstein Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic is open year-round and serves over 200 clients with such disputes each year. The Bookstein Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic handles the representation before the tax authorities, but collaborates with the CSUN VITA Clinic whenever tax returns need to be completed as part of the representation.
“The clinic was heavenly,” said Garvin. “They didn’t make me feel like a bad person for falling behind in my taxes and they helped me create a plan to organize my tax documents.”
For the next six weeks, Garvin visited the clinic and filed one return after the other until her taxes were current. Services that would have cost her $700-$1,000, she received absolutely free at the CSUN VITA Clinic.
“When my taxes were done, it lifted me out of this hole, and now my business is doing better and I’m motivated,” said Garvin. “It was all a palatable and educational experience.”