Free tax help
United Way’s Earn It! Keep It! Save It! program provides free tax return preparation for the 2016 tax year to individuals, families and seniors who earn $54,000 or less. Being a U.S. citizen is not a requirement. One of the goals of the United Way is to ensure eligible taxpayers claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which can amount to as much as $6,143 per family. The EKS program started this year in late January.
Now through April 18, volunteers based at Empire College in Santa Rosa will offer tax preparation services Monday through Thursday afternoons from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., as well as Friday and Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Residents throughout Sonoma County can make an appointment by calling 2-1-1 or 800-325-9604.
According to a United Way press release, for the 2015 tax year, 82 percent of clients who received free tax preparation services through the EKS program received a refund and the average refund per client was $1,824. Mike Kallhoff, President and CEO of United Way of the Wine Country, said, “This extra money makes a real difference to families, particularly when they’re struggling to make ends meet.”
Catholic Charities Santa Rosa is one the United Way partners in the EKS program. Valerie Winkler, the program manager at Catholic Charities, spoke more about how learning to save the tax credits they’ve received can make a huge difference for many of the families who take advantage of the program, “… for many of the individuals that we serve, which includes the homeless and undocumented immigrants, an unexpected $400 bill creates more of a problem than most people can handle.”
Speaking about one of the families she personally worked with last year with the United Way EKS program, she said, “They had a high school age son, and when the idea of college was brought up, the wife stated he had to start working right away to support the family. The husband replied, ‘No, we can save. It’s important for him to continue on to college.’ It’s this approach toward money we’re trying to help foster.”
The United Way is offering the SaveYourRefund sweepstakes; allowing tax filers who save a minimum of $50 from their federal tax refund to qualify for a chance to win one of 10 weekly $100 cash prizes. A prize of $25,000 will be awarded at the end of the tax season to one EKS participant.
Interested individuals will need to bring income documents from all jobs held in 2016, a Social Security card or ITIN for each person listed on the return, a valid photo ID, and bank account numbers if a direct deposit of the refund is preferred. More information can be found at unitedwaywinecountry.org.
