The Quantico Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Center will be opening its doors on Jan. 25. The tax center remains committed to helping active duty and retired service members and their families to navigate the always-tricky federal and state tax rules.  However, this year’s tax center will be very different from year’s past as the VITA deals with changes in demand, staffing and technology.

Staffing a volunteer tax center is always a challenge—there is not a surplus of Marines aboard Quantico. As a result, the VITA will be running at about 60 percent of the manpower that it did last year. The downside: Taxpayers with especially complex taxes—multiple rental properties, amendments for prior years, multiple stock transactions and the like—may not receive services. This is a big change from last year, when we provided service to virtually all comers. But in order to keep wait times manageable and take care of our junior Marines, we’ll need to scale back services in accordance with our staffing.

The focus of the VITA mission has always been the junior Marine. In our experience, the younger the Marine, the simpler the tax return. In keeping with this mission priority, we will be offering a 1040EZ drop-off service: If a Marine only receives a W2 and a small amount of interest and has no children, they can come to the office, fill out a form, and drop off their two documents. We’ll call the Marine back for a brief interview in 48 hours when the return is ready to file. That way the junior Marine can skip the line, no need to wait.

Finally, due to staffing issues, the tax center will have the following hours: Monday/Wednesday: 8:30 a.m.–3 p.m., Tuesday/Thursday: 11 a.m.–5:30 and Friday: 8 a.m. –1 p.m.

In light of these changes, the tax center may look quite a bit different than in past years. As Marines, you can be sure that we’ll adapt and overcome new challenges in staffing, demand and technology. Rest assured we will always be committed to serving as many service members and families as possible, with the highest level of customer service achievable.   That much will always remain the same.

For more information call 703-784-3976, visit the tax center website at http://www.quantico.Marines.mil/Offices-Staff/Legal-Services-Support-Section/Tax-Services/, or visit the Tax Center at 3095 Roan Street, Marine Corps Base Quantico.