State of the State

1. State of the State Filing Stats, Budgetary Issues, Reimbursements, Mileage Caps, & Donated Funds

2. Thank you for all that you do It was a great, if challenging, tax season, with good results. Our program could not succeed without the leadership you provide.

3. 2011 Tax Season • Taxpayers assisted: 116,811 (includes Q&A) • Number of Fed Returns: 47,087 • Number of State Returns: 47,519 • Total Fed. Refunds: $37,614,601 • EITC Refunds: $7,172,127 • Total costs for AZ program: $172,551 • Avg cost per Fed return: $3.78 • Avg cost per person helped: $2.10 • Per US Census – AZ has 1.5 million potential clients

4. Budgetary Issues • The IRS grant has been cut by almost $2million • No more Discretionary Funds (Storage, Equipment) • NO paid off-season storage • Avoid hotel stays for 2012 • Reduce travel expenses • Reduce repairs costs: AZ = 55% of Reg’l total • 4 x more than any other sub-state ($2,186) up $2,100 over 2010 • Promote Direct Deposit • Encourage Flat Rate Reimbursement • Non-Leaders: 51%, Leaders: 5% • No Reimbursement requested: 17%

5. REIMBURSEMENT for Counselors • Flat-rate reimbursement of $35 or • Parking/mileage (55.5¢/mile as of 7-1-11) • Need specific dates/locations • Need purpose • Covers training classes • Covers counselling, January to April 20 • Expense report submitted to LC or DC at end of season

6. EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENT OPTIONS Portal Reimbursement is available for Flat Rate for non-leaders (COU, CF, ERO, non-COU, SCO) ($35) Mileage only for Counseling & Training expense See the Extranet/Training tab for training Reimbursement takes about 1 week Paper Expense Reports All volunteers with mileage reimbursement and/or receipts Use the Excel Expense Report Form on the Extranet Counselor Flat Rate ($35) – form provided by National – Not used in AZ Reimbursement takes 6-8 weeks April to June Direct deposit expedites reimbursement

7. What’s New in Volunteer Portal for 2012 1)Automated Counselor Flat Rate submission for Leaders • 2)Automated Mileage Reimbursement for • I-Counseling • T-Training • B-Coordinating 2011 Regional Meetings – St Louis

8. 1)Automated Counselor Flat Rate

9. 2012 Mileage Reimbursement through Portal 3. Supervisor review and approve or reject w comments Counselor Financial System LC 2. System sends auto E-mail to Supervisor 1. Volunteer enter detail on Mileage & Submit 4. System sends auto e-mail for approval or rejection (resubmission needed) 5. If not responded within 7 days, system automatically escalates to next level up for approval or rejection DC 6. Payment deposited or mailed to Counselor 2011 Regional Meetings – St Louis

10. 2)Automated Mileage Reimbursement

11. Mileage Reimbursement Submission 1 4 5 2 3 • Enter all activity by site on Entry screen • Click Add Site to add an additional site • Click on Continue to submit (available after 4/18/12) • Confirm calculated reimbursement amount • Enter lower amount to meet your state’s mileage cap or to help program finance • Click on Submit and OK on Submit Confirmation. • E-mail confirmation is sent to the volunteer, and to his/her supervisor 6 2011 Regional Meetings – St Louis

12. Supervisor Review • Available after 4/18/12 • Double click on volunteer name to view detail • Review detail submitted by subordinates • Automatically escalated to the next level supervisor after 7 days from receipt (one level up every 7 days) 1 2 2011 Regional Meetings – St Louis

13. Direct Deposit for The Fastest Payment • Payment made within 7 days after receipt of reimbursement approval • No lost mail or wrong address issues • Form available on the Extranet under Forms • Submit the completed form with a voided check to Accounts Payable prior to March 1st, 2012 2011 Regional Meetings – St Louis

14. Training & Support • Leaders • Training material will be posted on Extranet/CMS in December • Live Webinar will be held in January • Recorded Webinar and PDF will be on Extranet • Link to Online FAQ • Non-Leaders • Training material will be posted on Extranet/CMS in December • Recorded Webinar and PDF file will be on the Extranet • Link to Online FAQ • Support will be provided through Tax-Aide-Ops@aarp.org 2011 Regional Meetings – St Louis

15. Mileage Capspertain to “I” Counseling mileage ONLY • LCs may approve up to $150 of “I” mileage • DCs may approve up to $300 of “I” mileage • SC will approve up to $450 of “I” mileage, only with PRIOR approval. This is absolute max. • LCs should use “B” mileage code while coordinating at their local site. Only use “I” while counseling at other site. • Shift Coordinators should use “B” coding • Any paper statement over $500 needs SC approval

16. In the Portal-based reimbursement system, all “over limit” expense reports must be approved by the SC. However,there is no mechanism in the present design of the Portal-based reimbursement system to detect the submission of an “over limit” “I” expense report and to escalate it directly to the SC. Every 7 days from submission, the system automatically escalates unapproved expense reports to the next level supervisor. The escalation to the SC can take up to three weeks depending on the number of supervisors involved. This modest delay will provide an expedited reimbursement process vs. submitting a paper expense report. Therefore all supervisors below the SC are instructed to NOT APPROVE “I” expenses over the state limits. In keeping with Tax-Aide policy, all expense statements over the limit MUST be sent to SCs via escalation AND be supported by the SC’s email of prior approval.

17. What to do with over limit Supervisors have two options: They may review and reject the statement back to the submitter, with comments stating the supervisor will not approve the “I” over limit, what the limit is, and that the volunteer must reduce the “I” expense column to no more than that limit. OR Knowing that the SC already pre-approved the volunteer to have “I” expenses as submitted, do nothing, so that the statement is escalated as needed to the SC for the required post approval.

18. Donated Funds • Represent a liability of over $300,000 in National budget. • All Donated Funds MUST be expensed by Dec 31st of each year. • Current value: $4662.79 to be spent in 2011 • Sun City West (D-14) has annual $500 donation • Prescott (D-3) has new annual $1000 donation • All expenditures MUST be approved in advance by the SC