United Way of Ventura County offering free tax assistance
VENTURA, Calif. – As the tax deadline approaches on May 17, United Way of Ventura County is offering free tax assistance to the community.
United Way invites all low-income families to drop off their tax documents and volunteers will be able to review them for free. It is available through Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, and it monitored through the IRS.
United Way is asking filers to make photocopies of their tax documents or bring in their W2 forms. The organization is hoping families will file their taxes on time to take advantage of the different credits that are available.
“So the two programs that we are trying to educate people on is the CalEITC and this is available to those people who make below 30,000 a year,” said Mandy Irvine, who is the economic mobility program manager at United Way California. “For this program you can get thousand of dollars back. The second program is The Golden State Stimulus and you cannot get this unless you file your taxes and you get up to 1,200.”
Many families who qualify for the California Earned Income Tax Credit and Golden State Stimulus, however, don’t know about the programs and how they need to simply file their taxes to receive the credit. There are more than 1 million families statewide who are eligible for one of the programs but have yet to apply.
The Golden State Stimulus (GSS) is a one-time payment of $600 or $1,200 per tax return that is available to families who have an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) filer earning up to $75,000, while the the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) ranges from $243 to just over $3,000 and is available to families with incomes up to $30,000.
Families can get the free tax assistance Thursday, May 13 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, May 15th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at United Way of Ventura County, 702 County Square Dr., Suite. 100.
