40 Years at the IRS — How one fed lends tax assistance to low income households

Every year millions of low-and moderate-income residents have their tax returns completed and receive refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — and they do it at no cost. Yes — free. No third-party tax preparer.

It’s thanks in large part to the work of Michael McBride. McBride is a Supervisory Financial Analyst at the IRS. He has created partnerships with more than 4,000 organizations that have annually enlisted nearly 90,000 volunteers to prepare millions of federal tax returns for disadvantaged filers.

That work scored him a place as a finalist for the Service to America Medal — the Sammies — the Oscars for federal employees.

McBride sat down with Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program to tell him how he came up with this project.
Last year alone McBride’s volunteers filed 3.2 million tax returns. But McBride isn’t satisfied with that number, “There are many more people out there that need the assistance. That’s why this year we are expanding the program.”

40 Years as a Fed

McBride started at the IRS as a 15 year old intern back in high school. “It’s the only job i’ve ever had and its because I had great mentors back in 1970. They literally guided me through my career.”