Nine a.m. Tuesday and 50 people were already milling at the door of the King Trimble Center in Curtis Park. Some were calm, some were panicked.
All were procrastinators.
It was the taxpayers’ annual dance with the Internal Revenue Service. Everyone was trying to meet the midnight deadline. No one wanted their refund to turn into a pumpkin.
Lucky for them, they had the Denver Asset Building Coalition, a not-for-profit outfit offering free tax preparation and electronic filing for the otherwise doomed.
“We’re here from the end of January to the end of April,” said Mark Phillips, DABC’s president. “This year we’ve been extra busy thanks to the economic stimulus package.”
He’s not kidding. The DABC calculates it will serve 3,500 area residents this year. In the weeks before the April 15 crunch, DABC was helping 200 to 300 people a day — free if their household incomes were less than $40,000.
“A lot of these people are just trying to survive,” said Benjamin Hodges, DABC’s founder. “Quite a few have lost their homes. We’ve seen a lot of foreclosures this year.”
Robert Harris brought his mom to get her taxes done. Later in the day he planned to file his own.
Harris was going through a rough patch. He was laid off in October. The $600 stimulus check he’ll likely get from the feds will be a real help.
“I’ll probably use it to pay off a bill,” he said. “I think that would be the right thing to do, rather than go shopping.”
Down a winding hallway at the community center, banks of folding tables were lined up like a church potluck. Instead of bowls of potato salad, they were set with computers.
Every so often, a client walked up with a manila envelope bulging with financial records. You could almost see the tax-preparer blanch.
“We get people with shoeboxes full of receipts all the time, especially if they’re self-employed,” Hodges said.
This is where the education end of the DABC program kicks in. Volunteers, many of them bankers or former IRS employees, will offer advice on organizing for next year’s tax season. Sometimes it’s as simple as “There’s this thing called an accordion file . . .”
Denver schoolteacher Andrea Davison showed up 30 minutes before the Trimble Center’s doors opened. She had planned to file electronically at home. Her computer was having none of it.
“I tried to use a free tax site a couple of weeks ago, but it kicked me off,” she said. “It just said, ‘Goodbye.’ ”
So the DABC was something of a lifesaver.
This was Janet Ardolino’s second year using the DABC tax service. The Denver meat cutter was a bit nervous, although she wasn’t nervous about her nervousness.
“It’s just natural,” Ardolino said. “I owe money, so I always wait until the last minute. I have so much going on that filing my taxes is always a last-minute thing.”
Dan Hayes sat two chairs down from Ardolino. He came from Lakewood to get his taxes done. He and the IRS had not seen eye-to-eye for a while. Hayes, who works construction, was out of a job.
“I didn’t file on time last year,” he said. “I fell behind and couldn’t pay. The IRS has buried me my whole life. Still, I’m trying to get my taxes in on time this year.”
Hayes sighed. “Eventually I’ll get it figured out,” he said. “But I always wait ’til the last minute in everything I do.”
A volunteer called his name. Hayes brightened and stood. This year he’d file on time.
Hey, there’s a first time for everything.
William Porter’s column runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1977 or wporter@denverpost.com.
