A New VITA Season Is Here
It is that time again when you start receiving your W2 form your employer and you start to gather all those important documents you need for your taxes. Welcome to the stress of tax season. Luckily in Cedar Rapids we have a free program that is here to help. For households who worked in 2009 earn less than 49,000 you are eligible for VITA services.
VITA, which stands for volunteer income tax assistance, is a free program staffed by volunteers who have been trained to prepare taxes, 43 this year alone. 17 VISTAs have spent the last few months studying to be able to prepare taxes and providing support for the program. Since the Cedar Rapids VITA program began in 2006 $2.75 million in Federal Refunds and $1.2 million in EITC refunds have been returned to families in Cedar Rapids. 2008 was a record breaker for the VITA program with over 900 returns filed and this year is already on tap to break the previous record.
The volunteers have been hard at work for the last couple of weeks at the VITA locations around Cedar Rapids. Participants can get their taxes prepared at three places, the Wellington Heights neighborhood center, Moundview, and Matthew 25’s headquarters. For Mercy Medical employees there is a special location for you conveniently located in Mercy. There are plenty of available appointment times. The appointment slots are scheduled for 45 minutes but most appointments only take about 15-20 minutes depending on the specific tax return. To schedule a VITA appointment all you have to do is call 211 and they will set everything up for you. The VITA program will run for the length of the tax season so there is still about two and a half months for you to schedule an appointment.
Another opportunity to get your taxes prepared will be on Super Saturday, which will occur on February 13, 2009 at Coe College. Super Saturday is an all day event where you can get your taxes prepared, visit a number of local vendors, take financial education classes and bring your children to play and learn more about responsible money management.
The VITA program will make preparing your taxes one less stress in your life. To make an appointment with tax preparers call 211 or participate in the Super Saturday event. For more information please visit http://www.volunteertaxassistance.com/.
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