Tax aid for disabled: Local Program Goes National

The Wichita Eagle

December 02, 2007

Wichita woman's volunteer program adopted by IRS

Judy Stengel's professional experience with the IRS and her personal experience as the mother of a son with a developmental disability have dovetailed in a way that's helping others nationwide.

The retired senior tax specialist with the IRS in Wichita and the mother of Kurt Stengel, 41, noticed something: People who are disabled or mentally ill often don't file tax returns because they don't make enough money to be legally required to do so.

But by not filing, they can miss out on refunds.

The result of her observation, and work with local disabled residents, is a national model that reached 36,000 people last year with tax returns totaling $32.6 million in refunds, including $10 million from the Earned Income Tax Credit.

To someone who lives on disability benefits and makes just a few thousand dollars a year at a part-time job, a refund of a few hundred dollars can mean more groceries, new clothes or the treat of going to a movie.

Stengel recently was in Washington, D.C., to pick up an Outstanding Accomplishment Award from the National Disability Institute for her volunteer program.

Stengel remembers preparing a return for one woman with a mental illness who had never filed taxes before.

'She had a bit of income, and we were able to go back and file past returns,' Stengel said. 'She ended up with over $1,500 in refunds. She sat there with her arms around me and just cried.'

'She bent over backwards'

Stengel prepares a lot of returns herself but also recruits volunteers who help out.

She and other volunteers prepared 51 returns last tax season for clients of the Mental Health Association of South Central Kansas, for example.

Amie Kopischke Stambaugh, director of career success at the association, said the effort made a big difference.

Many clients didn't realize they might be eligible for refunds.

'The project worked really well here,' she said. 'Judy was a godsend. She bent over backwards.'

Jennifer Davis, director of service coordination at KETCH, the Kansas Elks Training Center for the Handicapped, said much the same.

Because of Stengel's experiences with her son, 'she's very familiar with individuals who have a disability and is not afraid of them like some people in the community are,' Davis said.

'She was able to explain things in a very easy-to-understand manner,' she said.

Sharing her idea

In 2003, Stengel had the opportunity to go to Atlanta to share a best-practice idea at the IRS' Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication headquarters.

Stengel shared hers, which was working with clients at Wichita's Episcopal Social Services' Venture House.

People listened.

'And pretty soon, we had a pretty good initiative,' she said.

Now, the Real Economic Impact Tour is reaching out to continue what Stengel helped start. Its mission is to provide financial education and tax filing assistance for low-income working people with disabilities.

The outreach to people receiving disability benefits was based on her work at Venture House. The tour started with a partnership begun by the IRS program based in Atlanta and the National Disability Institute.

The tour reached 720 people in Wichita this past filing season.

Leaders at area groups that help the disabled say Stengel, who is 70, has worked tirelessly on the program.

Her work began when she read a government report in 2002 showing that 45 percent of people without children who are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit filed for it, compared with 96 percent for people with one qualifying child.

'So I began thinking, who is it that's over 25 and earning so little?' she said during an interview at her son's apartment in a Valley Center group home.

The answer came quickly: 'I identified that many of the people who were earning less than the maximum amount to qualify if they did not have a child (about $10,000) were probably people who were also receiving disability benefits.'

So Stengel began reaching out to groups that serve people with disabilities and asked them to put her in touch with the clients or the people who care for them.

The Real Economic Impact Tour began in 2004 for the 2005 filing season. Wichita was one of the original 11 cities on the tour 'because I've got such a big mouth,' Stengel said, joking.

By 2006, the tour had grown to 30 cities. This year, 54 cities are on the tour, and next year, there will be 63.

Copyright © 2007 The Wichita Eagle, All Rights Reserved.