Primary Location
Amenities
Parking
Free parking lot
Accessibility
Wheelchair accessible entranceWheelchair accessible seatingWheelchair accessible parking lot
Service options
Onsite services
This is our 3rd year using AARP Tax Aide Services in Prescott AZ. We have had good experiences the previous 2 years and we appreciate the free service. We expected changes this year due to COVID, so we went up and made an appointment and got the information forms to fill out in advance. To be fair, we had a joint return and my mom’s return to be completed at this appointment (and mom died this year so perhaps a little more complex). My husband is on oxygen and we had been told they would try to expedite our appointment so he wouldn’t run out of oxygen.
We arrived at our appointment time and the intake was fairly quick, then it was a good 50 minutes before someone came out to ask a couple of questions. She was apparently one of the “preparers” because she told us she’d be entering our data into the computer. Then another hour went by and I finally went up to ask where we were in the process because we kept seeing other clients who had arrived before us complete the process and leave and even some who arrived AFTER us, complete the process and leave. We were told that our returns had gone to the “reviewer” and someone would be out in a few minutes to go over the returns with us. Approximately 15 minutes later, the reviewer came out with a couple of questions of his own, then returned to the office area. It was nearly an hour before he returned to get us for the final review.
The process was very different this year (due to Covid) in that we were not allowed to sit with the preparer while data was entered into the computer (and we had a 2nd screen where we could review the data “real time”). I understand for everyone’s safety that the process had to change this year, but it did not give me a sense of confidence in the process. We never got an answer as to WHY the wait was so long - 3 hr 15 min in total! By the time we left, I would guess they had processed 30-40 returns with 6 preparers, so for most, the wait was not nearly so long. Not sure if we’ll go back next year!
