We may be several months away from April 15, but it’s usually about this time of year when folks are already preparing to file their 2023 taxes. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau recommends that whether a person believes they do not owe taxes or they expect a refund, it is still best to file early to ensure no balance is owed or to receive that refund a little bit earlier.
A great place to start with your annual filing is www.delawarelibrary.org/taxes. We’ve gathered the most up-to-date information and put it all in one easy-to-use webpage. Links include the IRS Free File and Ohio Department of Taxation I-File sites, as well as city, state and federal forms.
The Delaware County District Library is one of several locations where tax filers can pick up or print forms, though they are sent in limited supply. Currently, all libraries have Federal 1040 and 1040 SR forms, as well as instruction booklets for both the 1040 and 1040 SR. While library branches no longer receive pre-printed tax forms from the State of Ohio, all DCDL reference staff members are able to print the first copy of any tax form free of charge, and the first 10 pages of printed instructions for free.
Of course, library staff are not CPAs or tax professionals, but they are excellent with helping patrons navigate to the forms they need online, as well as printing them. Our librarians are wonderful, but they cannot provide any advice on how to fill out tax forms.
Thankfully, this year, the Delaware County District Library is excited to welcome AARP Foundation Tax-Aide back to our Orange Branch Library. The AARP volunteers will be located in the Orange Branch Community Room on rotating Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to offer free tax preparation assistance. Interested individuals must call (614) 450-2529 and leave a message. A volunteer will call back to schedule the appointment.
The AARP Foundation Tax-Aide volunteers have provided free tax help to over 75 million taxpayers, with a focus on older adults with low to moderate income. Tax-Aide volunteers are trained and IRS-certified every year to make sure they know about and understand the latest changes and additions to the tax code.
As always, watch out for tax scams. Scammers will target individuals by impersonating the IRS to get victims to share personal information. Thousands of people have lost millions of dollars and their personal information to tax scams. Scammers will use mail, telephone, or email to target individuals. The IRS will never initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text message, or social media to request personal or financial information. Visit www.IRS.gov to learn the telltale signs of a scam and how to know if it’s really the IRS.
Since filing taxes may not be the most thrilling thing you do this winter, come to the library to pick up a thriller and get your pulse going. Here’s what’s new on our shelves this month.
• “The Intern” by Michele Campbell. In this richly detailed legal thriller Harvard law student Madison Rivera gets the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to clerk for her idol Judge Kathryn Conroy. Things sour quickly after Madison learns Judge Conroy presided over a flawed case that ripped her family apart, and while digging for more she uncovers a web of corruption that could put her life in imminent danger.
• “The Fiction Writer” by Jillian Cantor. Olivia Fitzgerald’s debut novel was a huge success, but now she’s in a sophomore slump. To turn things around her agent gets her a ghostwriting gig for a famous billionaire who believes that Daphne DuMaurier stole Rebecca from his grandmother, and the more time Olivia spends with him the more her life becomes stranger than fiction.
• “The Other Mothers” by Katherine Faulkner. Freelance journalist and stay-at-home mother Natasha Carpenter becomes an unlikely friend to a clique of well-heeled mothers shortly before a nanny is found murdered in their neighborhood. As Natasha’s journalistic instincts lead her to start looking into the case, the behavior of her new “friends” grows increasingly suspicious, leaving her to ask troubling questions about who is watching who.
• “Distant Sons” by Tim Johnston. In a small Wisconsin town in the 1970s, three boys disappeared, and the case remains unsolved to this day. At least until the arrival of a young drifter, whose decision to stay in town after his truck breaks down will set off an explosive chain of events that will drag the truth out into the open with unexpected, fatal consequences.
• “What We Kept to Ourselves” by Nancy Jooyoun Kim. The Kims, a Korean American family in Los Angeles, are still reeling after the mysterious disappearance of Sunny, their matriarch, a year ago. Then a stranger’s body is discovered buried in their backyard carrying a letter to Sunny, raising even more questions about what happened to her and if she was even the wife and mother they thought they knew.
• “There Should Have Been Eight” by Nalini Singh. New Zealand paranormal romance author Nalini Singh dips her toe into psychological suspense in this atmospheric tale of friends gathering for a somber weekend together. Strange happenings, blizzard conditions, and, and long-buried secrets combine to create a locked-room thriller filled with menace.
If you have a question that you would like to see answered in this column, mail it to Nicole Fowles, Delaware County District Library, 84 E. Winter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740-362-3861. You can also email your questions by visiting the library’s web site at www.delawarelibrary.org or directly to Nicole at [email protected]. No matter how you contact us, we’re always glad you asked!
