Technology changing tax filing

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — You have until midnight on Monday to get your taxes filed. There are lots of forms and lots of ways to file, and technology is changing the way many people do it.

“The Internet is always going to be around, but I really think I’ve seen more people this year, and this is my third year,” Liberty Tax waver Damon Santalucia said. “I think just by doing this brings people in. They can do it on the Internet, but I’ve seen a lot more people this year than any.”

Santalucia says he loves tax season, because he gets to be a waver. His boss, Liberty Tax Services director Robert Quesada says the wavers are a good line of defense against the Internet, but he said, Internet or not, his clientele hasn’t declined. It’s just changed, because younger people with simpler returns are turning to technology.

“Once they start getting a home, getting stocks or rental properties or getting K1s,” Quesada said. “Those people, that group, come in and say, ‘I need help.'”

Quesada said even some people who try to file on their own come in for help.

“If they don’t know all the rules, then they can get in trouble,” Quesada said. “Normally what happens is, the ones who do get in trouble, come in during the off season.”

Quesada said the office may look empty now but all four Liberty branches in Wilmington have filed more than 2,000 returns combined. He said the second peak of tax season starts now and those who’ve put off their returns will start filing in, some of them because of Santalucia.

“I hear clients that they’re serving say, ‘If it wasn’t for that guy, I wouldn’t be here ’cause he caught my attention,'” Santalucia said.

Quesada said he’s not worried about losing business to technology because more people file taxes each year. He’s happy his business has been consistently busy in the past few years, but said he sees a lot of the office and less of his family during tax season.

“It’s one of these, OK, April 18, OK, 19, relax,” Quesada said.

For those of you who are waiting till the last minute, most tax services will be open until midnight on Monday.