Our Impact
From Tax Trap to Triumph
Tax Client Angela Hunter’s story
For over a decade, Angela Hunter lived with a massive tax debt she didn’t owe. After honoring her grandfather’s wish to use inherited stock to pay off her home, a reporting error on her 2012 tax return led the IRS to claim she owed $45,000—an amount that grew with penalties and seized refunds.
But the IRS had made a mistake. They miscalculated the value of the stock, wrongly assessing capital gains on money Angela never made. With help from the Clinic’s Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic and volunteer Dave Hawkins, she amended her return and set the record straight. After years of advocacy, her debt was erased, saving her over $100,000, and she even received a $9,000 refund.
Now free from the burden, Angela is deeply grateful: “It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders.”
Standing on the steps of Wheeler Mission, Rachel Geller found herself homeless. The countless years of addiction took its toll on her. She had lost everything that she cared for—her husband, home, and, most importantly, her son. Yet, there was hope in Rachel’s story of loss. Through a program at Wheeler Mission, she was connected with the Clinic where she began the long process of getting her criminal record expunged—something that was holding her back from starting fresh in her newfound sobriety. Through the Clinic’s Expungement Help Desk, Rachel obtained an expungement, wiping her record clean and giving her a much-needed fresh start. Since receiving an expungement, she moved into a beautiful new apartment with her son and applied for a medical scholarship through IU Health.