The COVID pandemic has greatly increased the number of individuals and families facing financial insecurity.
YOU can help your fellow community members improve their economic health by volunteering for our Niagara County FREE TAX Prep Program, with sites located in Niagara Falls and Lockport.
In this volunteer service position, you will help low income individuals and families file their taxes—and access eligible tax credits--saving them hundreds of dollars in unnecessary tax preparation fees. (Average cost of tax prep=$300 and tax credits, like the earned income tax credit, ranges from $506-$6,269)
There is no prior experience required! We encourage all those who want to help the underserved communities most likely to be financially impacted by COVID-19 to join our team.
Our FREE TAX Prep Program
- Protects people from the predatory tax prep companies which cluster in low income communities. 70% of those accessing the earned income tax credit use a paid preparer, spending 22% of their refund just to get it.
- Improves poverty rates, short term and long term--through the earned income tax credit, hundreds of families are brought above the poverty line. Research of the effects on children indicates that this has extremely important effects on the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
- Links people with free one-on-one financial counseling, budgeting, debt repair and other follow up services.
- This is an IRS sponsored VITA program
VITA Training & Return Preparation Dates – 2022 Filing Season
Training Dates: To be Determined—Training will be done in a virtual classroom. Training can be self-study or a combination of virtual classroom and self-study.
