A Miami millennial explains what it's like to travel to rural Alaska to help locals file taxes, saving some thousands in fees

• A millennial tax attorney braved Alaska's cold for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Project.
• The VITA program helps low-income, disabled, and limited English-speaking Alaskans with tax filing.
• Karen Lapekas faced frozen pipes and frostbite risks while assisting remote communities.

Filing and preparing taxes can be stressful. Now imagine doing it in -25-degree weather.

Karen Lapekas, a tax attorney from Miami, did just that. From the end of February through early March, she traveled to three remote towns in Alaska as part of the Alaska Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Project.

Launched this year, the program is a collaboration between the Alaska Business Development Center and the American Bar Association. It offers free tax help to residents who earn $54,000 or less, persons with disabilities, and limited English-speaking taxpayers who need assistance preparing their taxes. The two organizations have worked in previous years to help other taxpayers in the state prepare and file returns.

Lapekas spent 11 days helping to file around 85 tax returns. She said that the biggest challenge wasn't locating a stray W-2, it was working in subzero temperatures.

"The farther we got north, the more extreme the conditions got," said Lapekas. "There was one building we worked at that didn't have working bathrooms because the pipes had frozen."

Subzero temperatures presented challenges

Lapekas, 42, was formerly a senior attorney with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel before she left to start her own private tax litigation business. She's been representing clients against the IRS for over a decade.

After landing in Anchorage, Lapekas and her team of three underwent a final day of in-person training before they were flown out to villages in northern regions of the state. They volunteered in Kotzebue, Point Hope, and Point Lay — the last village had less than 300 people and temperatures reached -56 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Weather Channel.

"If you have any bit of skin showing after just a few minutes, you can get frostbite," Lapekas said. "One of the villagers did get frostbite walking to the center where we were preparing tax returns, and they lived maybe three blocks away."

Lapekas said she and her colleagues slept on the floor of a community center and schools in villages without hotels. They ate dehydrated food because it was easy to store and fresh food was scarce, Lapekas said.

Remote villagers faced hurdles filing returns

For members of these communities, the VITA program was an opportunity to get assistance filing their taxes electronically, Lapekas said. She added that villagers have had trouble filing their taxes by mail.

"When we were in Point Hope, for example, we found out that their post office was essentially closed," Lapekas said of the village that's home to 850 people.

Before the Alaska VITA program, Lapekas said villagers had to fly to Anchorage and pay accountants to prepare their taxes. The costs for villagers between flights, hotels, and accounting fees could reach $2,000 a year, Lapekas was told by Alaskans.

"This is an exorbitant amount, especially considering the simplicity of their return and their modest income," she said.

Lapekas and her colleagues worked long shifts during their 11-day stay. She said on one day they started at 9 a.m. and prepared returns until after midnight without taking a break. Many of Lapekas' clients worked in schools or support services for their communities, while others were part of subsistence communities that relied on whaling, hunting, and other natural resources.

"It's almost entirely indigenous cultures," Lapekas said. Indigenous Alaskans make up about 70% of Kotzebue's population, 88% of Point Lay's and also 89% of Point Hope's.

"What made filing taxes for Alaskans in native communities unique, was that most individuals, including children, had income," she said, adding that many clients received money through the Alaska Permanent Fund and the Alaska Native Regional Corporation.

The rewards of work

It was Lapekas's first time volunteering for this particular pro-bono initiative, and she hopes that she can return next year.

"There's something about pro bono work and volunteering that just revived me," Lapekas said. "It just gives my work purpose."

When Lapekas returned home to sunny Miami, she said she was most excited to see her two children, who are two and five years old.

"I reminded myself that I want to be an example to my children," Lapekas said. "I want them to see that volunteering and helping others in any way we can is a lifelong mission."