European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 30, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Whitney Holder trains army 1stu. Stacy Sims Darmstadt in electronic  tax filing reaches Europe by Crystal Laureano staff writer. Hill a thrill it is when the Bottom line on your tax form says you re entitled to a refund. Your excitement wanes however As weeks turn into months. And still no Check arrives in your Mailbox. It does t have to be this Way. The army has kicked off an electronic tax filing program in Many areas of. Europe that puts refund checks in the taxpayers hands or their Bank accounts in about month. Legal assistance offices in at least six army communities provide the free service. As of mid january the program was underway at five Legal offices in Germany 3rd inf div in Wiir Burg Fllch inf div in bad Kreuz Nacor 32nd army air defense come in Darmstadt v corps in Frankfurt and Berlin  service also is available at the Southern european task Force Legal v office in Vicenza Italy. A a several other Legal assistance offices in Germany have asked the irs for certification to be part of the program and some May begin the service prior to the june i 7 overseas filing deadline said chief warrant Allicer 2 Carrie tuning chief of information management for the Usa eur judge advocate. A electronic tiling is becoming popular in the states said irs spokeswoman Barbara Gehrmann nationwide the irs reported that More than 4 million tax returns were filed by computer in 1990, up from 1-.2 million the previous year. A the first army program began  Bragg n.c., in 1987, tuning said. The program now exists at nearly All stateside army installations. Electronic filing was introduced in Germany last year. ,. This is How the service works taxpayers take their completed forms to the Legal assistance office. A information from  is entered into a computer loaded with a special tax software program approved by the irs. The information is transmitted to Speed s corp. In Minneapolis which sends the tax information on to irs  in Andover mass.,. 1 using said a a a. Irs agencies that receive electronic tax data Are not capable of accepting direct transmissions from overseas tuning said. Thus the need fora. Middleman to pass the information to the irs data Banks. A a a offices participating in the program will accept 1040as, supplemental forms and 1040ezs. One form commonly filed by overseas taxpayers a 3903f for foreign movement a is not accepted by the irs computer that receives the tax data transmission tuning said. Only taxpayers who Are due a refund May use the / system. The traditional envelope and stamp is the Only option for those who  Sam Money. The irs also will allow Only americans in Europe with Apo addresses to use the tiling method. Free service and faster tax returns Are the key benefits for taxpayers using the army s electronic tiling program tuning said. Gehrmann estimated that refunds could be. Received within three to four weeks by using the electronic system. In comparison returns mailed to the irs and processed manually have return times that vary from three to four   to six or seven weeks As the deadline nears the internal Revenue system also benefits from computer filing. Electronic filing reduces paperwork and results in a lower error rate in the returns. Part of the software system is a verification program that checks for data or format errors in the returns before they can be transmitted tuning said. The Pilot program costs $1,895 for each location tuning said and Are being paid by the  up for a weird tax season by Crystal Laureano i staff writer o it Coine the trusty shoe Box of receipts calculator pencils and aspirin bottle. Armed with the new tax Booklet and firm resolve you sit before the table i determined to go it alone. It s tax time again. Several hours and two pots of Coffee later and you walk away Defeated. But All is not lost. The army air Force and Navy offer assistance programs to help you weather tax return storms. The biggest assist certainly was the presidential proclamation last week that extended the filing deadline for troops in the Gulf. They and their families won t have to file until 180 Days after the service member leaves the War zone a otherwise tax season is proceeding As Normal. The army and air fori e beg in by conducting a seminar for attorneys and paralegal clerks. It Quot when these people go balt k to their communities ideally they teach tax courses to the unit tax advisers Quot said John l. Simmons chief of Usa eur s Legal assistance division in the office of the judge advocate. Additionally the irs sponsors a training program c ailed Vita a Volunteer income tax assistance a to train people in the basics of filling out the most common tax forms. War related Security concerns halted irs plans to bring tax experts to Europe to train volunteers said Larry Lagrand an irs a a representative in Bonn. Quot Vve cancelled All. International travel a said Lagrand. Quot Wisdom told us that it was the thing to  attorneys in military communities will pick up the Slack he said by using the irs materials and teaching Vita classes. Unit tax advisers have varying degrees of skill. Volunteers Range from people with an interest in the income tax system to certified Public accountants Simmons said. Quot some of the unit tax advisors Are very very Good Quot he said. Quot Many do a tremendous Job out  the Way the program should work is that an. Individual goes to their unit tax adviser. Anything beyond the capability of the unit tax adviser is referred to the Legal assistance office. Legal assistance officers who Don t have All the answers can Call Ain irs office in Europe for further help. Quot everybody should be  get their questions answered Quot said capt. Terry Farrell chief of a Safe a administrative Law division c. While army and air  officials Are not in. The business of preparing taxes Legal assistance officers Are prepared to go through a line by line examination of returns. The Navy Iri Europe also supports the Vita program according to a command spokesman in London. A. A income tax assistance is available at most Navy family serv ice centers. Although Navy Legal offices do not prov Ide income tax preparation service they do prov Ide limited assistance in areas such As capital gains and usually have state and Federal income tax forms. Both Simmons and Farrell said that Large scale deployments to saudi Arabia will not affect the ability of Legal offices to handle requests for tax help. 4 is amps financial planning guide wednesday january 30, 1991