AARP Tax-Aide Program

  • Tax-Aide Chromebooks include links to counselor reference materials, including NTTC documents.
  • From other computers, http://tiny.cc/taxpreplinks (NTTC Google Drive) has those materials.
  • The shared CA-wide REFERENCES Google Drive (tiny.cc/ca-ref) has CA-specific material, such as an electronic copy of this manual, as well as selected links to NTTC-prepared reference materials.
  • A quickly searchable website version of this manual is at https://cacrm.github.io/duckbook
  • Act on “Tax-Aide Volunteer Alerts” emailed to all volunteers.


Internal Revenue Service and Franchise Tax Board 

  • IRS website – Publications (“Pubs”), forms, and answers to tax questions: irs.gov/
  • Franchise Tax Board (State of California)
    • Publications, forms, and answers to questions: ftb.ca.gov
    • Email for questions from Tax-Aide and similar free tax preparation services programs: volunteercoordinator@ftb.ca.gov
    • MyFTB – Information for a taxpayer: estimated tax payments made, balance due, CA wage and withholding information: ftb.ca.gov/myftb (requires prior year’s state tax information to register for an account; PIN will be sent via mail, after registration, and is required to log in).


               **Don’t share Volunteer Hotline numbers with taxpayers**

IRS PHONE NUMBERS

M-F 6am to 5:30pm, Sat 6am to 2pm Pacific Time

FTB PHONE NUMBERS

M-F 8am to 4pm Pacific Time

Volunteer Hotline*

800-829-8482

Volunteer Hotline

800-522-5665

Tax Information

800-829-1040

Volunteer Coordinator

916-845-7052

Automated Refund Info

800-829-1954

General Number 

800-852-5711

e-file Help Desk (for rejects)

866-255-0654

Automated Service

800-338-0505



Direct line

916-845-7088

ID Protection Specialized Unit

800-908-4490

ID Theft Resolution Coordinator**

916-845-3669

* For tax law issues 

** CA returns: Paper-file the return if ID theft. The FTB contacts the taxpayer about discrepancies. Contact the CA ID Theft Resolution Coordinator only after setting up a federal ID theft case.

TaxSlayer

  • TaxSlayer has a Knowledgebase to consult for answers to common questions: taxslayerpro.com/support. 
  • The “VITA/TCE User Guide – TaxSlayer Pro Online” is a comprehensive document, with many screen shots, for everything Tax-Aide does in TaxSlayer:  from the Main Menu, Office Client List, or similar page, click “VITA/TCE Publications and User Guides” in the left navigation bar, wait for “Loading media” to finish, click the “Attachments” tab, then click “TaxSlayer Pro Online User Guide”.
    • The first 10 or so pages describe logins and passwords; the next 240+ pages are for administrators; the next 330+ pages cover how to prepare a tax return; the final 100+ pages are for EROs and administrators.
  • The TaxSlayer VITA/TCE blog is at vitablog.taxslayerpro.com.
  • During the tax season, TaxSlayer provides real-time support via chat and phone support (800-421-6346) from 8am to midnight EST on weekdays, 8am to 8pm on weekends.
    • Online chat is available inside a taxpayer return – click “Help & Support”, and then “Chat With Us”. 
      • Note: Chat is not available within Practice Lab. 
    • You can also email questions to support@vita.taxslayerpro.com; hours for response are above. Don’t provide excessive personal information about a taxpayer – the last name and last four digits of the taxpayer SSN, plus your EFIN (see the bottom of federal Form 8879) or SIDN (see the bottom of Form 1040 of the PDF for the taxpayer, in the “PTIN” field) is sufficient. 

Recommended steps for researching an unfamiliar topic

  • Question the taxpayer thoroughly and review their paperwork to obtain all relevant facts.
  • Begin with the Tax-Aide-specific NTTC-modified version of Pub 4012 (aka NTTC 4012, a Chromebook link).  It provides information for most topics, including TaxSlayer, in an easy-to-use format.  This version is updated for Tax-Aide scope.
    • This manual always calls the IRS/print version “Pub 4012”, and calls the NTTC-modified online-only version “NTTC 4012”.  The printed 4012 is missing a lot of necessary information.
    • Pub 4491-X, VITA/TCE Training Supplement, is normally published by the IRS in December and contains updates to Pub 4012, and other IRS publications. The NTTC 4012 (link above) is updated shortly after.
  • Review what this manual recommends. (Use the index at the end or search the electronic version, https://taxaide.info/CA-DuckBook; an updated electronic version is released by early February.)
    • Note:  This manual does NOT qualify out-of-state preparers to prepare California returns.
  • Consult the instructions for the relevant tax form you’re working with.
  • Use one of the Volunteer Hotlines on page 1.

Created with the Personal Edition of HelpNDoc: Why Microsoft Word Isn't Cut Out for Documentation: The Benefits of a Help Authoring Tool