Free tax service

Love preparing income taxes? Willing to learn?  We need you!

We're seeking volunteers to be trained to provide free income tax preparation for local residents.

This is the fifth year Common Heart has offered free tax services, which are completed by trained and certified volunteers as part of the national Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, program. Individuals and families with annual incomes of $52,000 or less are eligible for the free assistance.

In 2015, our volunteers filed 279 income tax returns -- 121 more than last year. The service saved residents an estimated $65,000 in tax preparation fees and got them more than $360,000 in total refunds.                                                  

Our free tax service helps take the stress out of tax time and allows our hard-working neighbors to use the money they save on tax preparation fees for other needs, like food, rent or medical bills. We serve people from all walks of life – college students, teachers, hair stylists, retail staff, local government employees and retirees.

Free training will be held Dec.7-10 from 6-9 p.m. at South Piedmont Community College in Monroe, with a certification lab in January. 

For more information about the program, visit http://CommonHeart.org.

To volunteer to become trained for the program, email Susan.Ochs@CommonHeart.org.