Everyone’s favorite season of the year is approaching. No, not the holiday season. It’s tax season!

Since 2005, Foundation Communities has helped low income members of the community file their taxes for free – saving clients hundreds of dollars each in tax preparation fees, and ensuring they receive the credits for which they are eligible. Last year alone, we were able to help over 18,000 people which resulted in $32 million in refunds returned to our local economy. Although this keeps us and our volunteers quite busy, we are always looking to help more members of our community. We recognize that help from partnering organizations is essential to the continued success of the program. I hope that we can work together this tax season to help spread the word about our Community Tax Centers and help low-income families hold on to their entire tax refund.

More information and a printable flyer for our tax center locations and hours are available here.

If coming to one of our locations isn’t convenient, or someone is comfortable with a computer and is up for preparing their own taxes, we are encouraging people to file using online software from TaxAct. We have a dedicated URL accessible from our website (www.communitytaxcenters.org, select “File Online For Free”) or you can access it directly here. Filing online is free for returns with less than $51,000 in income, and for people earning more than that the filing fees are very reasonable (last year a colleague filed a return using TaxAct for a relative earning $60,000 a year and he was charged $9.99 to file). Our staff has tested the software, and recommends it for its easy usability, and most importantly, it prepares an accurate return!  Perhaps you could consider posting a link to this URL on your website for your clients and employees to access – or maybe in employee communications?  We want to make sure people – not just our clients – are preserving their refunds and not spending too much on tax preparation!

If you have any questions about our tax centers, would like more flyers, or are holding an event that I could present at, please feel free to contact me. Thank you for helping us and the community.

Sincerely,

Jacob Peeples

Community Outreach Coordinator

Foundation Communities

Direct: 512-610-7376