Typical. I had the same kind of thing happen on at least 3 occasions in 2015, which was the last year I did VITA. One guy came in with a 1099 indicating $51,000 of gambling winnings. He was using a motorized scooter because he was disabled. We didn't even calculate his return because before we even sat down with him to start going over his info, he said “I'll tell you right now, I am not going to pay any money. I'm disabled, as you can see, and I shouldn't have to pay.” Site coordinator said “We can't work with you, sir. Please seek other advice for completing your tax return.”
I had a number of Schedule C returns too. I remember getting all the way to the end with one lady and the return amount from fed was $4,100. Then she pulled out a scrap of paper out of her purse and said, “Wrong. It's $4,700.” I asked her where she got that figure and she said a friend gave it to her. I smiled and said “Well why didn't your friend just file your return for you? You came here, presumably with the intent of us filing it for you.” She said “oh, he would've wanted about a hundred bucks out of me if I'd had him file it and I really didn't want to pay him.” I said, “Well, if you want $4,700, you'd better pay him that hundred dollars.” She left in a huff.
Oddly enough, this VITA site was in an upscale neighborhood….yet we still got plenty of very low income folks in the door.
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