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OAKLAND — Community leaders and politicians gathered Thursday morning in Oakland to launch the start of what they say is an effective anti-poverty tool: free tax help that helps low-income residents access their tax refunds.
A program from United Way Bay Area called Earn It! Keep It! Save It! has more than 200 centers across Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Solano counties offering free tax help for people who have an annual income of $54,000 or less this year.
The program kicked off for the 2018 tax season at the Unity Council in Oakland on Thursday, where leaders including Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee. D-Oakland, urged Bay Area residents to get free tax help.
“When people think about doing taxes they think about giving money to the government, but many can get money back at this time,” said Schaaf, pointing to state legislation passed this year that expanded the California Earned Income Tax Credit to self-employed people and to include households with incomes up to $22,300.
Rep. Lee praised the program but noted that not as many people who are eligible for tax refunds are getting them, and encouraged people to take advantage of the free help.
“Thousands are missing out on important refunds,” she said. “The Earned Income Tax Credit has lifted many out of poverty.”
Indeed, for many people, getting the credit can mean getting several thousand dollars back, said Kelly Batson, vice president of operations for United Way Bay Area. The estimated average household benefit is more than $400 per year with a maximum credit of almost $3,000 for a family with three or more children, according to United Way estimates.
People who qualify for the free service can choose from the sites around the Bay Area that partner with United Way to access help either through walk-in hours or by appointment, which vary by center. This year, United Way is offering a new “drop-off” service at more than 20 locations, where volunteers screen clients for eligibility, collect their tax information (stored on a secure online storage system) and then interview the taxpayers by phone and prepare their taxes. The tax filers can then go back to the intake location to sign and pick up their returns about a week later.
“For those living on lower incomes, tax time offers a key opportunity to benefit from the Earned Income Tax Credit, a significant cash infusion that can be used to pay down debt, buy necessary household items or start saving for the future,” said Vicki Joseph, the Northern California market manager for Citi Community Development, which is supporting the drop-off service.
The tax help program is a version of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA). That program was started in 1971 by Gary Iskowitz at Cal State Northridge as a way to provide local taxpayers with free tax return preparation by accounting students and has grown into a national Internal Revenue Service program. The local program started in Alameda County in 2003 and has expanded across the Bay Area. United Way Bay Area partners with city departments, nonprofits and other places to offer the sites. Volunteers, including a mix of accounting and finance students, tax professionals and retirees, staff the centers.
United Way’s program has a broad reach, but other centers include Tax-Aid, a public charity that offers tax services to low-income residents in the Bay Area, and the AARP Foundation’s Tax-Aide program, which offers tax preparation for low-to moderate-income taxpayers at more than 5,000 locations around the country and specializes in helping those age 50 or older.
For people who want to do it themselves, the IRS offers software to prepare federal returns for free for people whose income is $66,000 or less, and California residents can use the state’s CalFile program online for free. Some company websites, like TurboTax and H&R Block, offer free filing software for those who qualify.
But many residents appreciate the help that programs like United Way’s can offer.
Hayward residents Eduardo Lopez and Alejandra Garcia were getting help preparing their taxes at the Unity Council Thursday morning and were using the service for the first time.
“It’s important to have a community resource like this,” Lopez said via a translator.
Clarissa Johnson, financial opportunities coordinator for the Unity Council, who was helping prepare taxes on Thursday, said that providing tax help can also help introduce people to other financial services the organization provides, such setting up bank accounts.
Oakland city Councilmember Noel Gallo urged his community to use the service.
“Most of us working folks know that Oakland is one of the most heavily taxed places in the country, so what I pay in taxes, I should be able to get my return,” Gallo said on Thursday. “This is an extremely valuable service.”
For a full list of tax help locations offered by United Way, visit earnitkeepitsaveit.org. To see AARP Foundation’s Tax-Aide program locations, visit www.aarp.org/money/taxes/aarp_taxaide/
