Navigating Tax Season: A Wrap-Up of Free Tax Prep Services or Free Tax Prep Unwrapped: A Recap of This Year's Tax Season.

By Mary Ann, NHCO Free Tax Prep Site Coordinator

Does filing your income taxes scare you? Does it stress you out? Does it keep you up at night with worry? It does for many of our tax clients that visit us at our Millvale and North Boroughs tax clinics, as well as our satellite locations at Roots of Faith, Westview Hub and Thomas Village Apartments.

We have wonderful volunteers who are trained in preparing tax returns, but they also spend time educating and alleviating concerns about the stresses of tax return filings. NHCO works with our tax clients to identify:

• Appropriate filing status, i.e., single, head of household

• Qualifying dependents: children and relatives

• Eligibility of available tax credits

• Eligibility for state tax forgiveness

• Eligibility for rent or property tax rebates

"I chose to volunteer with the Free Tax program because it’s an easy way to make a positive impact in the community. I really enjoy working with the clients and getting to know them, each has an interesting story," said Leslie, a volunteer tax preparer.

We can file federal and state tax returns electronically, which gives our clients their tax refunds quicker than sending the return by mail.

Performing this service for our North Hills client base is a very satisfying and rewarding experience. If this free service (provided by the IRS and United Way) through NHCO were not available, most of our clients would be paying several hundred dollars to paid tax service providers. Our clients often feel very thankful and relieved when they have completed their tax returns with us at no cost.

We look forward to providing this service again next year! Until then, don’t worry about your taxes. We’ve got you covered!