Northeast News
February 1, 2012

Ask any family struggling to pay rent, buy groceries and pay utility bills and they’ll tell you every penny counts, especially in today’s economy. Yet many working residents are overlooking an important tax credit that could help them keep as much as $5,751 in their pockets.

KC CASH Coalition and United Way want to help those taxpayers and others who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) claim the credit and increase the size of their tax refunds. KC CASH and United Way are sponsoring 20 free tax assistance sites around the Kansas City metro area this year to help individuals with household incomes of $50,000 or less prepare and electronically file their taxes for free.

The free tax assistance sites opened last week and will be staffed by IRS-certified tax preparation volunteers. Several of the sites will be located in the Historic Northeast area and include Full Employment Council,1720 Paseo Blvd.; Metropolitan Community College – Pioneer Campus, 2700 E. 8th St.; and the Housing Authority of Kansas City, Missouri, 299 Paseo. Once again, the Full Employment Council site will become a tax assistance “Super Site” and will be open five days a week and every other Saturday.

The easiest way to find a tax assistance location near you is by visiting www.unitedwaygkc.org/tax or by dialing 2-1-1 or (816) 474-5112 to see if you qualify. United Way 2-1-1 call specialists are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week and have a listing of tax assistance site locations, along with their hours of operation.

“The EITC tax credit can provide a huge financial boost for families impacted by the economy. A lot of workers will qualify for EITC for the first time this year because of changes in their employment, marital status or because they had another child,” said Jason Wood, president of KC CASH Coalition. “But the only way they can claim the tax credit is by filing a federal income tax return, even if they aren’t legally required to do so because their income was low.

“We want to help them file their taxes for free and claim the tax credit, if they qualify. It can literally put thousands of extra dollars into their pockets.”