Volunteers are needed to help Snohomish County residents keep more of what they earn, as part of United Way’s IRS-approved free tax preparation program in 2013.
All volunteers will receive training from United Way and will be certified by the IRS. In addition to tax preparers, United Way is also looking for volunteers who do not wish to prepare income taxes, but who wish to serve as greeters and intake specialists.
Goodwill’s Marysville Job Training and Education Center will be hosting the free tax preparation site in Marysville. Volunteers who are multilingual are greatly needed.
United Way of Snohomish County will operate the free tax preparation program at six sites throughout Snohomish County from Jan. 22 to April 15, 2013. In addition to the site in Marysville, there will be three sites in Everett and one each in Monroe and Lynnwood.
The program is designed to help working families prepare their income tax forms for free, raising awareness about the Earned Income Tax Credit, child care and other available tax credits, while avoiding fees associated with for-profit tax preparers.
At the free tax preparation sites, customers will also be able to sign up for public benefits and learn about opportunities to make the most of their tax refunds. The free tax preparation program will also provide taxpayers with information about asset building resources such as credit counseling, savings bonds and health care options.
In 2012, 96 volunteers dedicated more than 5,100 hours to United Way of Snohomish County’s free tax preparation program. Volunteers prepared 2,511 tax returns and helped families claim more than $4.28 million in federal refunds, including nearly $1.3 million in Earned Income Tax Credits. In all, United Way volunteers saved customers an estimated $414,000 in tax preparation fees.
Since 2007, United Way volunteers have prepared nearly 9,200 tax returns, worth $15.25 million in refunds for Snohomish County’s working families.
For more information and to volunteer, please visit uwsc.org and click on “volunteer.” The volunteer registration deadline is Nov. 30. Training will take place in December and January. Each volunteer will be asked to contribute three to six hours a week of their time.
