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IRS Sites offer Free Tax Help
When Charles Moore shows up at church with his family Sunday, they'll finally be wearing the nicer clothes he's wanted for them. Moore has been doing his best to keep the bills paid and food on the table, taking whatever work he can get from a local temp agency.
So he was excited to get the free tax preparation help offered at the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga (Chattanooga, TN) last week and to learn he was getting back $3,999.
"It's going to help me help my family," he said. "It took a lot of stress off me."
After he pays off some bills, he said, he'll grab a couple of nice outfits for himself and the kids.
Moore is one of thousands of low- and middle-income taxpayers who will stop by Internal Revenue Service-sponsored sites for free tax preparation before the April 17th income tax filing deadline.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance centers across the country offer free preparations for any household making less than $50,000 a year. Individuals over 60 years old also may get a free preparation at a IRS-sponsored Tax Counseling for the Elderly site. That means about 70 percent of the state's population is eligible for free preparations, said Dan Boone, spokesman for the government agency.
Volunteers at the 177 sites across the state are IRS certified to do preparations and have been trained to look for tax credits and refunds typically benefiting the people volunteers are helping.
Bill Cox, who coordinates the Northgate Mall VITA center, has volunteered for more than 20 years. The former accountant said his site's staff is ready for whatever taxpayers can throw at them. "We can handle most of the things in the low-income market that we're dealing with," he said. "If Donald Trump comes in, we'll send him somewhere else."
But the sites do their best not to turn anyone away. Last year, more than 65,000 taxpayers across the Volunteer state took advantage of the free service, and officials expect that number will rise this year.
No matter the number, Donna Thomas, VITA coordinator for the Urban League of Chattanooga, said her staff is there to help.
To read the full article, please visit: http://timesfreepress.com/news/2012/jan/29/irs-sites-offer-free-tax-help/
