Maj. Gen. Bradley A. Becker, commanding general, Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington was on hand April 28, 2016 to congratulate and award members of the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Tax Center after another successful tax season.

Nine Soldiers and nine Marines as well as a handful of civilians were presented various awards and certificates for their role operating the combined Tax Center on JBM-HH. This is the second year the tax center consolidated, co-locating the Marines from Henderson Hall and the Soldiers from Fort Myer into one location to provide services to the joint base community.

"It really is a group effort with our civilians, our Soldiers and Marines all working together to take care of this community," said Becker. "I just want to tell you how much I appreciate what you do during the tax season."

According to Philip Jussel, senior paralegal for Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, the tax center staff saved patrons more than $700,000 in tax preparation fees in 2016.

"We saved people who came here over $700,000 in tax preparation fees," said Jussel. "In other words, if they had gone down to a local retailer and paid to get their taxes done they would have paid $700,000, so we saved the community a huge amount of money and that money stays in their pockets."

In addition to the tax preparation fees saved, the tax center staff completed more than 2,500 federal tax returns and about the same number of state returns.

"We captured about $3.6 million in tax refunds in federal and state refunds for people. We also collect taxes for the government and we collected about $1.6 million in taxes owed," said Jussel. "In about 110 days, the Soldiers and Marines handled more than $6 million in government funds through the tax center with all of the returns they created."

Becker praised the staff for all their hard work, long hours and dedication before presenting the awards.

"I think this year was another tremendous success," said Becker. "And while those numbers are impressive, what's really important is each one of those individuals who came in here was able to save that individual fee and get their individual taxes returned to them. I really appreciate what you did for our community here."

For more photos from the ceremony, log onto: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mdw_events/albums/72157667801588116.