Training and Tax Preparation Resources

The NTTC produces  a series of videos that are geared towards: 

New Volunteers

Returning Volunteers

Client Facilitators

(includes Greeters and Scheduling Assistants)

Index of All Training Videos

The NTTC Workbook contains all the practice exercises available for the current tax year.  

There is a table at the beginning of the Workbook that identifies the Federal tax topics covered in each practice exercise.

There are 4 required certification returns included in the Workbook.  

If you are using the hardcopy Workbook that you received, make sure the check the third page in the on-line version for any updates or errata.

The Tax-Aide annotated Volunteer Resource Guide is designed as a guide to assist counselors in preparing a return using TaxSlayer.

The Release Notes highlight the changes from TY24.

The NTTC Training Guide provides information on a wide variety of tax topics, and can be used to research topics.  You are not required to read the entire guide.

The Release Notes highlight the changes from TY24.

The Qualifying Child or Relative Resource Tool – aka “The Quadfold” is used to help determine whether or not someone is a dependent for tax purposes and also contains a Filing Status decision tree.   

New counselors will receive a hardcopy of the Quadfold for this tax year.  ]

Returning counselors can use the Quadfold provided last year and do pen-and-ink updates from the errata. 

Form 13614-C, otherwise known as the Intake Interview Booklet, is a key resource in identifying a taxpayer's tax situation and is a requirement of the AARP program.  Once the TY2024 booklet is available, the link will take you to it.  NTTC has a video explaining the revised Intake Booklet for TY25.

Under the provisions of the Volunteer Protection Act, AARP Foundation Tax-Aide volunteers must stay within the scope of the program and prepare only returns for which they have been trained and certified.

This manual covers the forms and schedules that Tax-Aide volunteers certified through the Advanced level may be trained to do.

Review a summary of the differences in Scope for the Tax-Aide and the VITA/TCE programs for TY25 or the Scope Poster, which must be posted in each site.  The poster is also available in Spanish

IRS Pub. 6744 contains all the required certification tests.   We recommend that you complete the tests and enter your answers on the blank answer sheets, before entering your answers into the IRS certification website.  You may need to update your password if you are a returning volunteer or create an account if you are a new volunteer.

PDFs of the individual tests are available:

Pub. 6744 Blank answer sheets

Intake Interview and Quality Review Test

Volunteer Standards of Conduct Test

IRS Advanced Test

The Colorado Resource Toolbox contains a set of calculators produced by Jeff Bogart in Colorado, which are very useful in figuring out things such as the taxable amount of a pension, taxability of state income tax refunds on the Federal return, and Education Credits.   NTTC has produced a video showing these tools and how to use them (10 minutes)

IRS Publication 17 is the IRS handbook on Federal Income Taxes for Individuals.

This video covers  Federal and Maryland tax law changes, updates to TaxSlayer, and AARP Tax-Aide Scope Changes.

 (42 minutes)

or review the slides.

Some taxpayers live in Annapolis city and some have an Annapolis address but do not live in the city.   How do you determine whether you should choose "Anne-Arundel - all other areas" or "Anne Arundel - Annapolis" in TaxSlayer?

There are a couple of things you can do:

• Check last year's return (hopefully it was correct)

• Ask the taxpayer if they live inside the Annapolis City limits (they may not know)

• Check the Annapolis City Ward Lookup on-line - if the address shows up and indicates a Ward number, then the address is in Annapolis city.  If there is no Ward, it's in the county only.

• Check the City of Annapolis Map (which has the Wards marked)