VITA Helps Low-Income Taxpayers Across the Nation

Posted by CFED on April 6, 2015

Volunteer Tax Preparers Helped Return Nearly $4 Billion to Low-Income Taxpayers Across the Nation

More than $3.89 billion in federal income taxes have been returned to those with modest wages as a result of free tax preparation services offered by IRS-certified volunteers in 2014. A new breakdown of national IRS data shows that tax preparers at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites across the nation helped more than 3.2 million taxpayers make the most of their returns during the 2014 tax season. VITA programs offer lower-income taxpayers a free alternative to more costly, and often predatory, tax preparation services. VITA sites are IRS-sponsored and are closely monitored by the agency, giving them a far lower error rate than many self- and paid- tax preparation services.

More than $1.1 billion was returned to workers through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC is widely regarded as one of the nation’s most powerful anti-poverty programs, yet one in every five workers eligible for the credit does not claim it. The IRS reports that those most likely to overlook their eligibility for the EITC include the elderly, workers with disabilities, grandparents raising children, English language learners and those living in remote areas. VITA sites help to raise awareness of the credit in their communities to ensure that every worker eligible for the EITC receives it and gets the correct amount.

http://cfed.org/programs/taxpayer_opportunity_network/advocacy_center/2014_vita_data/