Services Offered: Bookstein Institute’s Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic

Services Offered:

The College of Business & Economics at Cal State University, Northridge offers a number of tax related services to the public, including the following:

A. Tax Preparation: The Wayne and Roberta Colmer Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program at California State University, Northridge provides quality tax preparation service at no charge to residents of the community. For more information, please visit them at: http://www.csun.edu/vita/index.htm

B. Speaker Service: Beginning in 2008, the Bookstein Institute for Higher Education in Taxation will sponsor free seminars to the public on various tax issues. Through these seminars, the Institute hopes to educate taxpayers about their rights and responsibilities. If interested, please contact the Tax Clinic to arrange for a staff member to come and speak to your organization about particular tax topics. These topics may include (but not limited to):

• Federal Earned Income Tax Credit
• Dependent Exemptions
• Payroll taxes
• Small business taxes

C. Issue Resolution with IRS: Beginning in 2008, the Bookstein Institute for Higher Education in Taxation will provide assistance to qualified taxpayers with free advice on tax matters relating to disputes with the Internal Revenue Services. Assistance would include on topics such as:

• IRS collection
• Earned income credit
• Filing status and dependents
• Failure to file returns
• Innocent spouse status
• Independent contractor/employee
• Liens and levies
• Installment agreements and offers in compromise
• Penalty waivers
• Refund

D. Tax Audits: Beginning in 2008, the Bookstein Institute for Higher Education in Taxation will provide free assistance to qualified individual and small business taxpayers relating to IRS audits, examinations and appeals.

Spanish Speaking Taxpayers:

Through collaboration with the Department of Modern & Classical Languages and Literatures at Cal State Northridge, some of the services to the taxpayers may be offered in Spanish. Taxpayers needing assistance in Spanish should indicate so when contacting the Clinic.

Eligibility Requirements:

To qualify for audit or issue resolution services, the taxpayer must meet the income guidelines provided below:

2007 Income Guidelines

Add $8,700 for each additional person.

For purposes of this program, a family unit is defined as an unrelated individual or a family. An unrelated individual is a person 15 years old or over who is not living with persons related by birth, marriage or adoption.

A family is a group of two or more persons related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together. However, if related individuals live together, but the person seeking assistance from the clinic is financially independent, then that person may be treated as a family unit. If two unrelated individuals live together, they constitute two family units

Source:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Telephone: 202-619-0257
Toll Free: 1-877-696-677

Federal Register, Vol. 72, No. 15, January 24, 2007, pp. 3147–3148

Location:

A. Map of Clinic’s location

We are located on the first floor of the College of Business & Economics at California State University, Northridge, in room Juniper Hall 1111. For a campus map, visit us at: http://www.csun.edu/maps/cm1.html

Interactive map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=18111+Nordhoff+Street++Northridge,+California+91330-8245&ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&ll=34.242007,-118.530663&spn=0.001933,0.005203

B. Driving Directions
Directions to Cal State University, Northridge is available at: http://www.csun.edu/%7Epubrels/directions/directions.html

C. Parking
Information about campus parking is available at:
http://www-admn.csun.edu/parking/

What Should I Expect?

Taxpayers and other individuals interested in obtaining information concerning the services that the Clinic provides should contact the Clinic Administrative Coordinator. The Clinic is open from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Monday - Friday. Generally, we try to return a taxpayer’s call within 24-48 hours in order to set up an appointment. After the taxpayer have met with someone from the Tax Clinic, the Clinic Director will review your case and decide in 7-10 days whether the Tax Clinic can help you. The Clinic Director looks at:

• Whether the taxpayer is meets the financial condition guidelines
• The type of problems the taxpayer has;
• The amount of time necessary to help the taxpayer;
• Whether the case is something the Tax Clinic has experience in handling

The Tax Clinic notifies the taxpayer in writing whether it decides to represent him/her.

Contact Us:

Administrative Coordinator
The Tax Clinic
The Bookstein Institute for Higher Education in Taxation
College of Business & Economics
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330-8372
Phone: 818-677-3952
Fax: 818-677- 2456
taxclinic@csun.edu

Disclaimer:

This website contains useful information on the federal income tax dispute resolution process, but it is not intended to serve as a substitute for professional representation. To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained on this website (including links and attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.