The Ventura County Financial Empowerment Partnership is currently recruiting tax preparation volunteers.
Each year, volunteer tax preparers assist low- and moderate-income earners (under $49,000) prepare and e-file their tax returns, making sure they access all the tax credits to which they are entitled, the United Way of Ventura County reported in a media release.
Training and materials will be provided for free. Training will take place in January, with VITA sites open from Jan. 30, 2012 through April 14, 2012. VITA locations in Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Paula, Simi Valley and Moorpark offer options for daytime, evening, and weekend volunteer opportunities.
Volunteers are needed in three areas (no experience is necessary): Tax preparation, intake/screening, and interpreters. To sign up as a volunteer online, please go to http://www.VolunteerVenturaCounty.org
Last year, the time contributed by the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance volunteers was valued at over $33,000.
For the 2010 tax year, 36 volunteer tax preparers filed 865 tax returns; saving filers over $175,000 in tax preparation fees. This is a significant savings considering the average annual gross income of the tax filers served by this program was only $17,660.
The efforts of the volunteer preparers resulted in $1.3 million in total returns infused into the Ventura County economy, including more than $622,000 in the Earned Income Tax Credit.
The Ventura County Financial Empowerment Partnership’s membership includes the United Way of Ventura County, the Business and Employment Services Department of the HSA, Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation, FileYourTaxes.com, CAUSE and the IRS.
For information, please contact Chuck Spence at 805.906.0402 and at spencecb@aol.com or Susan Englund at 805.485.6288, ext. 276 and at senglund@vcunitedway.org