For This Lifelong Volunteer, Tahoe and Taxes Are the Perfect Match

Roger Holden remembers the day in 2024 when an older man in a wheelchair arrived looking for tax help — and left with more than $14,000 in refunds coming to him.

“He didn’t have much to his name,” says Roger, 70, a local coordinator for AARP Foundation Tax-Aide in Reno, Nevada. “That amount of money really changed his finances for the better.”

Tax-Aide’s IRS-certified volunteers provide free tax assistance to those who qualify, with a special focus on taxpayers who are over 50 or have low to moderate income. It was one of Roger’s volunteers who spotted the error on the man’s return — an error a paid tax preparer had missed. 

Usually, the taxpayers Roger works with have simple returns, their only income coming from Social Security or some occasional dividend interest and a retirement distribution. This man’s situation was different. He was receiving Social Security payments as a result of his disability, making him eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, a tax break for low- and moderate-income taxpayers. He just didn’t know it.

The volunteer asked him to come back with as many previous returns as he could find and was able to get him three years’ worth of refunds. “To me, that’s helping somebody who needs it,” Roger says. It’s the kind of interaction that has kept him coming back to the program every year for a decade.

In fact, Roger has spent many decades as a volunteer: at the fire department in his hometown of Larchmont, New York; as treasurer of a local park conservancy; and helping to build a youth basketball league when his son was a young player.

Roger Holden volunteering at the fire department in his hometown of Larchmont, New York.

At the end of a long career in finance, as he thought about his retirement, Roger remembered the 10 years he had spent as an insurance underwriter in California. “That was when I discovered Lake Tahoe,” he says. “That’s the reason I’m here now.”

From his home in Reno, he’s an hour from Lake Tahoe and 30 minutes from a mountain where he regularly snowboards. Nevada is also one of nine states in the U.S. that don’t tax income. “I always tell people, ‘I moved to Reno for Tahoe and taxes!’” he says.

Tax-Aide is a significant time commitment for Roger, who volunteers at three sites and dedicates 15-20 hours a week for more than two months during tax season. But it has its perks, one of which is the social interaction it brings. “Everybody gets along well because everybody's here for the same reason,” he says. “We get pleasure from helping people do their taxes.”

Volunteering is also a way for him to stay busy now that he’s retired.

“These days, the hardest question I face when I get up in the morning is, ‘What am I going to do today?’ Roger says. “When I volunteer, I feel that I’ve done something useful, which is time well spent.” 

Learn more about AARP Foundation Tax-Aide and how to become a Tax-Aide Volunteer.

Read more stories about how our programs have helped people find hope, and about the volunteers who give so much of themselves to help others.