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Free or Low Cost Tax Help for Low Income Tax Payers

May 12, 2011 By

While there are several income tax breaks designed to help people with lower incomes lower their tax bill, a lot of those breaks are confusing and require professional interpretation. However, the people for whom the breaks are designed often cannot afford to pay a tax professional. Because of this, there are several programs which offer tax help for free or for a low cost.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is available for taxpayers with incomes of $42,000 and offers free tax assistance. The preparers are trained volunteers who focus on those tax breaks which are designed to help people with low to moderate incomes. VITA sites are generally located in community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools, and shopping malls.

Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) is a program similar to VITA. TCE offers counseling for people 60 years of age and older. The TCE program is sponsored by the IRS and AARP and has over 7,000 available sites with trained Tax-Aide volunteer tax counselors who help people with low-to-middle incomes. Information on AARP Tax-Aide sites is available on the AARP website or by calling (888) 227-7669.

For more information about VITA or TCE, call (800) 829-1040.
Tax problems and questions do no necessarily stop after the income tax return has been filed. Many people need continuing tax help because the IRS has questions or other problems have arisen. Low-income taxpayer clinics (LITCs), which are provided by schools and nonprofit groups and supported by the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate office, offer help for taxpayers through audits, appeals, and collection issues. These clinics target the neediest taxpayers so they can get funding. The IRS has granted increasing amounts of money to these programs, as the interest in the programs have grown. More information about these clinics is available on the IRS website, which includes an interactive map for finding a facility in your area.

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What the IRS Wants You to Know About Getting Tax Help

May 10, 2011 By

If you need tax help but cannot afford to pay a preparer, the IRS and other organizations have made options available for you. The IRS wants you to file your taxes, but they do not want it to be an unnecessary burden.

Two IRS sponsored programs, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, and the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs offer free tax help to specific groups of taxpayers. VITA is available for taxpayers who earned less than $49,000 and most locations offer free electronic filing. TCE is for taxpayers who are 60 and over. There are more than 12,000 free tax preparation sites nationwide. VITA site information is available by calling the IRS toll-free number 1-800-906-9887or at http://www.irs.gov.

The IRS continues make these services more readily available by expanding its partnerships with community and nonprofit organizations that perform tax preparation services. For example, in conjunction with the TCE program, AARP offers the Tax-Aide free tax preparation program at over 6,000 sites. At these sites, AARP Tax-Aide volunteers are trained and certified to provide assistance to taxpayers with low-to-moderate income, paying special attention to those 60 and older. To locate the nearest AARP Tax-Aide site, call 1-888-227-7669 (888-AARPNOW) or visit www aarp.org.

Community volunteers in these programs are trained to help specifically with several credits. They focus on popular credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the Credit for the Elderly. Many sites also have volunteers who can help people who have limited English skills, which may make it hard for them to understand complicated tax policy.

In addition, the IRS has partnered with the military to provide the Armed Forces Tax Council which consists of the tax program coordinators for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. The Armed Forces Tax Council trains its volunteers in military-specific tax issues including combat zone tax benefits. These programs are available for military personnel and their family members.

To find out where the nearest tax assistance location is to you, check with a community organization or your local city information hotline. The IRS posts this information on its website so that you can get the help you need to fill out your income tax return without the burden of having to pay for it. It is extremely important that you fill out your forms correctly and include the necessary supporting documentation in order to avoid tax problems in the future.

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Federal Tax Help for Military Employees and their Families

May 2, 2011 By

Military personnel and their families may be entitled to free federal tax help in preparation of filing their tax returns. The U.S. military and the IRS take part in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program which gives military members and their families free tax advice, return filing, tax preparation, and other issues regarding tax assistance.

The Armed Forces Tax Council watches over the procedure of military tax programs globally while carrying out an outreach with the IRS to the military employees and their family members. The AFTC comprises directors of the tax program for the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Navy.

There are also volunteer helpers at military-based VITA locations who are trained to tackle tax issues that are military-specific, including the new Earned Income Tax Credit instructions and the combat zone tax benefits.

To obtain free federal tax help, there are a few things that you are required to carry with you to the military VITA site:

  • Legitimate photo identification.
  • The birth dates of you, your spouse, and dependents.
  • Social Security cards for you and your family members, or a social security number verification letter that has to be obtained from the Social Security Administration.
  • Interest and dividend statements found in Forms 1099.
  • Salary and earning statements found in Form W-2, W-2G and 1099-R.
  • If possible, a copy of the previous year’s federal tax returns.
  • The total amount you have paid for day care, including the day care service provider’s identification number.
  • A checkbook to obtain the routing and account number for a direct deposit.
  • Other required information regarding income and costs.

In the event that your filing status is Married Filing Jointly, and you would like to file your return electronically, you and your spouse must avail yourselves to sign the necessary forms. If it is highly difficult for you and your spouse to be present for the signing, you can make use of a suitable attorney to sign and handle the filing of the return on your behalf.

However, there is a special exception when getting an attorney for spouses in combat zones; it allows the filing spouse to file a joint return electronically, together with a written statement saying that the other spouse is currently in a combat zone and is therefore not in a position to sign.

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Tax Relief: What Do You Do If You Discover You Have Unfiled Returns?

January 7, 2010 By

It is important that you make sure you file all tax returns as soon as you realize you have unfiled returns, whether you are able to full pay them or not. Upon discovering the problem, the first thing you should do is ask for help. The next thing you should do is think about paying the tax debt.

You can contact the IRS in a number of different ways to ask for help. The service is free and it can assist you with all the questions you may have pertaining to your unfiled returns. You can contact the IRS via telephone, the internet or direct (in person) contact. You will be able to receive help with getting the required paperwork together via this service. Additionally, you can even receive help with getting your unfiled returns sorted out and prepared for free if you have a low to mid-income. This tax preparation service is collaboration between a voluntary organization (The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA)) and IRS e-file. The significance of this is that this return preparation can be done electronically, which further eases the situation. Those with a high income do not qualify for help from this collaboration, but can still use paid-for tax preparation services that are approved to use the IRS e-file system if they so desire.

Once you’ve managed to file your unfiled returns, the next thing to think about is how you are going to pay. You can go for a variety of different payment methods, such as check, credit card, money order and electronic funds transfer. Some individuals who file their returns late are able to qualify for a payment plan, although it is cheaper in the long run to pay in full.

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Tax Relief: Getting Help with Unfiled Tax Return Preparation

January 7, 2010 By

To get help with the preparation of your unfiled tax returns, you have a few options depending on your income. If you earn a low to middle income, you may qualify for free help with tax return preparation. Otherwise, going to a qualified professional will be of great help for preparing your unfiled tax returns.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program was previously an independent organization that helped those with a low to middle income in the preparation of their tax returns free of charge. It has since joined forces with the IRS and its e-file system to provide a more efficient service (still free of charge). The IRS e-file system is a means of sending tax returns and other documents to the IRS online. The merger between the e-file system and VITA means that the VITA volunteers can now prepare tax returns and send them to the IRS electronically and directly, making it a quicker process.

If you have an income that exceeds the limit for help from the VITA program, you will not be able to use it to get help with your unfiled tax returns. You can, however, use a qualified tax professional to help with your unfiled tax returns (and the same applies for businesses, who also do not qualify for aid from the VITA program). You can even find a nationwide list of tax companies that are approved to use the IRS e-file system if you feel using it would be the most efficient way of getting your tax return prepared. You can search through this list to find local companies by entering all or part of your zip code (depending on how close you want the company to be; entering a partial zip code will cover a wider area).

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=174271,00.html

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