Fort Carson – Between missions in Iraq, Sgt. David Grimes found time to think about another of his American duties: taxes.
In the desert, Grimes, a member of Fort Carson’s 360th Transportation Company, downloaded the forms he needed from the Internal Revenue Service website and mailed the signed papers to Colorado Springs.
As today’s general deadline to file taxes grew nearer, Alicia Grimes, 27, said her husband’s e-mails went like this: “So what’s up with the taxes? Well … How are the kids? What’s up with the taxes? Did you get the forms I sent?’
Alicia Grimes is raising their two children, ages 8 and 4, while her husband is deployed. She also has a job helping other military spouses, soldiers and retirees prepare their taxes at Fort Carson’s tax center, and she knows how difficult that process can be during wartime.
This year, military couples who want to file jointly must have a special power-of-attorney form if their spouse is deployed.
Capt. Paul Muething III, a lawyer who runs the tax center on the post, said the IRS requires the special power-of-attorney form because too many soldiers who had given general power of attorney to spouses, friends or relatives were taken advantage of.
“We had people come back from deployments, and not only was their entire paycheck that they’d made in the last year gone, but they had new credit cards or new cars. So the IRS had really cracked down,’ Muething said.
The IRS grants deployed soldiers an automatic extension. Upon return, soldiers have 180 days to file their returns, Muething said.
But on another front, tax time may be getting more difficult for the troops.
About 150,000 soldiers, including about 3,600 in Colorado, are eligible for the earned-income tax credit, which helps the nation’s poor, according to a report from the Bell Policy Institute.
Congress, though, is considering cuts to the credit as it tries to control a soaring federal deficit.
Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., introduced a “sense of the Senate’ amendment this week to preserve the tax credits.
“Given all these families do for our country, it’s the least we can do for them. To take away this tax credit would be to raise taxes on these families that are working hard to make ends meet. We should be providing for our men and women in uniform, not taking away from them,’ Salazar said.
Sgt. Jason Miller, 26, of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, found time Thursday to get to the tax center.
“I know I’m late,’ said Miller. “We have a lot of training to do, and you have to try to squeeze in personal time to get this stuff (taxes) done. But the Army comes first, so that’s what you’ve got to do.’
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com.