Google for Tax-Aide

VA State Management Meeting

October 24, 2023

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Karen Miller

LC, VA D5

ksm.taxaide@gmail.com

Technology for DCs and LCs

NTTC and NTSC have brought us a number of tools to help us

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But there are other tech tools that can help us to:

• Communicate with our taxpayers and our colleagues
• Access and share information
• Simplify administrative tasks to increase our productivity and efficiency

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All so that we can focus on providing accurate return prep

to as many taxpayers as possible

VA SMT October 2023

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Google Accounts for All Volunteers

• VolunteerIDty23@aarpfoundation.org is your Google account
• Note addition of “ty23” to your Volunteer ID
• This will remain your account until the end of the TY23 tax season.

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• What this gives us:
• Access to our Chromebooks
• Gmail accounts
• Google Meet
• Google Drive

VA SMT October 2023

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First Step -- Update Recovery Info

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Add a recovery phone number and email

• Note - the email should NOT be your aarpfoundation.org email

This will allow volunteers to recover their accounts by themselves

Individual Gmail Account

• Allows volunteers to email taxpayers without exposing their private accounts

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• Enables coordination with preparers in other states for STAP purposes

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• Contents of these accounts will be purged at the end of each tax season
• Taxpayers should not be sending sensitive personal information – but if they do, be sure to delete the email

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From your email -

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Add other accounts so you can quickly check them

Click to switch accounts

Jump to other Google apps

Individual Google Meet

• Enables Google Meet Videoconferencing
• If set up from Chromebook, have unlimited time
• If you coordinate with Wes Gewehr, can record the meeting
• Allows volunteers to make plain phone calls from CBs
• “Start an Instant Meeting” and “Add Others”
• Type in the phone number and call
• Caller-ID will always be (671) 675-4444

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Sites get Google accounts too

SIDN@aarpfoundation.org (minus the “S” of the SIDN)

• e.g. 28050545@aarpfoundation.org (where S28050545 is the SIDN)

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• Each site gets a Google VOICE account
• Allows sending/receiving calls AND sending/receiving of text messages
• Note: individual Google accounts do NOT have VOICE capability
• Site’s phone number will remain the same from year to year
• When you set up VOICE, you get to select your phone number

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Two Primary Uses for Site’s Google Voice

• Use it as your site’s scheduling or information line
• Scheduler or Phone Monitors can receive and forward messages
• See GV05 Comprehensive Google Voice Setup re: how to forward voicemails
• Site Counselors share the line to contact clients
• Counselors can text a client (which we cannot do from Google Meet)
• It appears that more than one person can make a call at the same time, but Google has not officially confirmed that

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Other things to know about Google Voice

• Caller-ID does not work with all carriers – If it does work, AARP says it will identify as “Tax-Aide”
• Mine says “ACL Google Voice Line” - where ACL is the name of my site
• Know what your caller-ID is so you can give it to your clients before they leave your site
• At end of TY23 season:
• Never-activated accounts without phone numbers will be deleted
• Inactive accounts with phone numbers will have passwords changed
• To reactivate or create an account after April 2024, you will need to submit a portal ticket

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Setup is easy

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1. From your Chromebook, type voice.google.com into the browser address bar.
2. Click SIGN IN on the top right.
3. It will say “Your account isn’t ready for Google Voice.” Click Switch Account.
4. Under Choose an account, click Use another account.
5. Enter 8-digit-site-account-number@aarpfoundation.org
6. Enter the password: xxxxxxxxxxxx (same as initial CB password) if this is the first time you have accessed this account. (Otherwise enter last year’s password).
1. You will be asked to enter a new password.
7. On the welcome page, click I agree

How to setup and use the site account, cont’d

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8. On the Choose an account screen, click on your new site Google Voice account
9. You can then:
1. Choose a phone number from those suggested
2. Verify your site service address
3. Link a phone number (optional)

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See GV05 Comprehensive Google Voice Setup in the Tax-Aide Links, Technology folder, NTSC Table of Contents document

• to set a bookmark
• to set a recovery email and phone number
• for info on handling notifications, messages, etc

Google Drive

• All volunteers have an individual Google Drive
• (The site accounts do NOT have a Google Drive)

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• But more useful – is the Premium Google Drive you can get from your Technology Coordinator
• Does not get purged at season end like others do
• A district can set up a drive for district-specific files
• A site can set up a drive for site-specific files
• Premium Drive must not hold taxpayer data
• Recommend managing it from your personal Google account to reduce possibility of taxpayer data getting onto it

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What and How to Share?

Share copies of site-specific documents

• Scope Checklist, Drop-off Inventory Checklist, Activity Tracking Log
• Emergency Response Plan and Emergency Contacts
• Posters and Tell-a-Friend cards
• Forms for taxpayers - e.g. Missing Documents, Absent Spouse Form, cover letter for paper returns
• Orientation slides or documents on site procedures

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Share using “Anyone with link can view” access eliminates the need to grant individual access to all team members

• Also have ability to limit access of some files - e.g. to Shift Coordinators

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Google Forms

Need to collect info? - Use a Google Form for consistent collection of data and easy viewing of results

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Other Tools Available on Chromebook

Click Launcher at bottom of Chromebook screen

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Shows you other apps available on the Chromebook

Other Tools

Gallery and Lumin PDF - let you edit images, annotate PDFs

• Use to put text on Tax-Aide posters

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Creating presentations?

• Take a snapshot of your Chromebook screen with: SHIFT + CTRL + (ShowWindows Key)

Groups.IO — T-VOG

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https://t-vog.groups.io/ Click the blue button to join

Additional Resources

• Learn more about many of these capabilities in the Tax-Aide Links Technology folder under the NTSC Table of Contents

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• And in the new LC Guide
• Awaiting final approval
• Expected release in November

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Questions?

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