Income tax assistance volunteers sought in White Rock Hills

by PegNews wire

WHITE ROCK HILLS — VITA stands for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance: The Ferguson Road Initiative offers a VITA center each year targeting low to moderate income residents of the community. Volunteers in the center assist tax payers to prepare and electronically file their income tax returns, with special emphasis on claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit often overlooked by many tax preparers.

According to a recent report from the IRS, residents in the immediate neighborhood (75228) failed to claim nearly $1.8 million in tax credits.

Hours and days will vary depending on availability of volunteers so call FRI to confirm [214-324-5116]. All training will be provided by IRS and volunteers will use computers provided by the USDOJ and IRS on IRS software. Training will begin in November.

Last year, volunteers prepared 126 returns, with over $150,000 in refunds, bringing our two year total to nearly $300,000. As part of a national USDOJ initiative, 102 Weed & Seed sites mobilized over 1,000 volunteers, prepared 24,400 returns with aggregate refunds of $28,600,000, aggregate EITC of $11,000,000, aggregate child tax credits of $5,000,000 and savings to Weed & Seed residents of $7,200,000 in tax preparation fees. The Weed & Seed initiative was so successful that it has been nominated for a 2008 Innovations in Government Award given by the Kennedy School of Government.

Posted by Mike O.