My name is Joseph xxxxx and I am currently a Junior at Yeshiva University in New York. I am an accounting major with experience in the accounting field, specifically tax returns. I am very interested in getting involved in VITA and becoming a volunteer but I am not exactly sure how to do so. I tried filling out the online form several times but I was never contacted.
Also, I am the president of the college's accounting society and I am very interested in planning either and event or a program with you. There are many students who would definitely be interested in getting involved and I was wondering if you could use any of there help. This could be a one day program to help you guys out in anything you need, or a long term program to become VITA volunteers.
Please get back to me as soon as you have a chance because I am extremely interested in getting involved.
Thank you.
All the best,
Joseph xxxxxx
-----------------------------------Answer from webmaster@vita-volunteers.org
Dear Joseph,
It is refreshing to see an enthusiastic volunteer willing to set up a VITA site, and following up when you are not getting a response.
According to the email and registration records, you made enquiries on 3/29/2009, 4/19/2009 and 4/23/2009 which was forwarded to VITA headquarters. Usually the vita-volunteers.org webmaster ignores such requests, leaving it to the national office to respond, but your determination to volunteer and your leadership qualities in wanting to start a new site is my personal opinion a good reason to respond publicly so that others with this question may also respond.
Vita-volunteers.org is run by a dedicated volunteer and site coordinator in the Santa Clara County, Ca which is close to San Francisco, and the purpose is to help volunteers in the local area sign up to volunteer. It was developed in conjunction with an enlightened Relationship manager who saw the value of getting online signups that could be directed by email immediately, since trying to find out how to volunteer was such a challenge.
However, soon many volunteers were signing up through the site, and the information directed to the Santa Clara County Relationship manager was not something that could be dealt with at the local level. Since the webmaster was a problem solver interested in helping out volunteers rather than deal with the bureaucracy, the practical solution was to direct those queries were directed to the VITA national office from which it was routed to the appropriate Territory Manager for action. It seemed a little silly to route it that way manually when the location of the volunteer was known, but contacting the National VITA office for the names of sites, site coordinators, Relationship managers and Territory resulted in the response that any queries should be directed to the National office.
A simple search on the web provided contact information on Territory Managers; since this information is supposed to be only for potential volunteers and coordinators who want to offer their services, but not to provide to individual taxpayers, I have extracted the names of the territory managers in New York State and presened them here for your reference in case you would like to contact them directly. If you are interested in the Territory Manager of a different state, please indicate by adding a comment to this posting. The contacts are as follows:
Albany Peter Stevens 518-427-4109 Peter.J.Stevens@irs.gov
Buffalo Peter Stevens 518-427-4109 Peter.J.Stevens@irs.gov
New York City Michael McCormick 212-436-1031 Michael.J.McCormick@irs.gov
The date of this information is not known, but there is also a listing of IRS offices in New York City which could be obtained through searching on the VITA Volunteers Custom Search Engine II on the website. As of April 17, 2009, here is the listing information.
| City | Street Address | Days/Hours of Service | Telephone* |
| Albany | Clinton Ave. & N. Pearl St. Albany, NY 12207 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. | (518) 427-4250 |
| Binghamton | 49 Court St. Binghamton, NY 13901 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (607) 721-0338 |
| Bronx | 1200 Waters Place | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (212) 436-1000 |
| Brooklyn | 625 Fulton St. Brooklyn, NY 11201 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (718) 488-2068 |
| Buffalo | 130 South Elmwood Ave. Buffalo, NY 14202 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (716) 961-5100 |
| Elmira | 149 West Gray St. Elmira, NY 14901 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (607) 767-1012 |
| Garden City | 107 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. Garden City, NY 11530 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (516) 683-5169 |
| Hauppauge | 1180 Veterans Memorial Hwy. Hauppauge, NY 11788 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (631) 851-4726 |
| Jamestown | E. 3rd St. & Prendergast Ave., Jamestown, NY 14701 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. | (716) 961-5100 |
| Kingston | 153 Sawkill Rd. Kingston, NY 12401 | Monday - Thursday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (845) 339-5384 |
| New Windsor | 300 Commerce Dr. New Windsor, NY 12553 | Monday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (845) 561-8990 |
| New York (Harlem) | 55 W. 125th St. New York, NY 10027 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (212) 436-1000 |
| New York (Downtown) | 290 Broadway New York, NY 10007 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (212) 436-1000 |
| New York (Midtown) | 110 W. 44th St. New York, NY 10036 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (212) 436-1000 |
| Poughkeepsie | 191 Main St. Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (845) 452-2220 |
| Queensbury | 375 Bay Rd. Queensbury, NY 12804 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. | (518) 798-6047 |
| Rego Park | 59-17 Junction Blvd., Rego Park, NY 11368 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (718) 760-6019 |
| Riverhead | 518 E. Main St. Riverhead, NY 11901 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (Closed for lunch 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.) | (631) 851-4726 |
| Rochester | 255 E. Ave. Rochester, NY 14604 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (585) 263-5840 |
| Staten Island | 10 Richmond Ter. Staten Island, NY 10301 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (212) 436-1000 |
| Syracuse | 100 S. Clinton St. Syracuse, NY 13261 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (315) 448-0807 |
| Utica | 10 Broad St. Utica, NY 13501 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (315) 793-1952 |
| West Nyack | 242 W. Nyack Rd. West Nyack, NY 10994 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (845) 627-1487 |
| White Plains | 210 E. Post Rd. White Plains, NY 10601 | Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | (914) 684-7302 |
The source url is http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/article/0,,id=98318,00.html
It is not clear where in the process of sending out emails there was a breakdown in communication, so the practical action to take is to call the appropriate offices to get the appropriate information. Please get back to the blog to document your results, even if there is no action, so I can try to find who else can provide the information.
If you would like to add your experiences to this blog, it may help other interested volunteers reduce the amount of frustration they feel at not being able to volunteer.
The information contained here was obtained through publicly available sources that came up through a search engine which has not been verified. The accuracy can and should be verified with the IRS, but it is provided as a starting point.
Best wishes,
Webmaster@Vita-volunteers.org
Thank you so much I really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI tried emailing and calling Michael McCormick but it appears that he does not work for the IRS any longer. I tried emailing Peter Stevens as well and I will see if he can help direct me in any way.
I will try calling the IRS as well tomorrow and see where that takes me.
If you have any more info or advice please let me know
I really appreciate it.
Thank you so much,
Joseph
The following is an email response from someone in the IRS whom Joseph tried to contact.
ReplyDelete----------------------------------------------
Someone is giving out email address information on specific individuals. I got this email for what reason I don't know!!! Please don't give out email addresses!!!!!!!!! I cannot help this individual. He wants to work in VITA. Send the email to someone in VITA!
Bob xxxxx
Email: xxxxx.xxxxx@irs.gov
From: xxxxx [mailto:xxxxx@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 6:43 PM
To: xxxxx xxxxx
Subject:
xxxxxx xxxxxx,
My name is Joseph xxxxx and I am currently a Junior at Yeshiva University in New York. I am an accounting major with experience in the accounting field, specifically tax returns. I am very interested in getting involved in VITA and becoming a volunteer but I am not exactly sure how to do so. I tried filling out the online form several times but I was never contacted.
Also, I am the president of the college's accounting society and I am very interested in planning either and event or a program with you. There are many
students who would definitely be interested in getting involved and I was wondering if you could use any of there help. This could be a one day program
to help you guys out in anything you need, or a long term program to become VITA volunteers.
I emailed someone at VITA and they replied to me with the following link: http://vita-volunteers-questions-and-answers.blogspot.com/2009/06/joseph-is-finding-it-difficult-to.html
In it he told me to contact either yourself or Michael McCormick for assistance. I am unable to get in contact with Michael so if you are not the correct person to contact can you please forward me to the correct person.
Please get back to me as soon as you have a chance because I am extremely
interested in getting involved.
Thank you.
All the best,
Joseph xxxxx
Bob, thanks for bringing this to my attention. Since your email address was not on the URL quoted, the response was sent to the wrong place, and this should get the message out to whoever revealed your email address.
ReplyDeleteYou email suggests that giving out email addresses on specific individuals is a big no-no. I was not aware it is wrong to do this, and certainly would not want to do anything that is wrong or illegal. However, there are several lists of SPEC Territory managers publicly available on the web, from one of which specific names were provided to help Joseph locate the right person. It would appears from your message that perhaps the right thing to do is publish the whole list, thereby making it easier for all interested parties to contact the Territory Manager of choice, rather than those of one individual.
It appears from the irs.gov website that your name is the same as that of an IRS non-SPEC Territory Manager.
Joseph is offering his services free to a program of the IRS, and finding it impossible to do so simply because he has received no response from within VITA. If you cannot help this individual, there must be someone else in the IRS who can. However, if no email addresses can be provided, it is impossible to contact them. And if someone from inside the IRS, and particulary a Territory Manager, if you happen to be one, is unable to provide a link or a suggestion to get them closer to finding the right contact, imagine how much harder it is for Joseph to do so.
Your final statement emphasized "Send the email to someone in VITA!". That is exactly what Joseph is trying so desparately to do!