Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program Limited Hours Available By Appointment

unitedway_portercountyWalk-in Service to be Offered Thursday, April 7 Only

Some tax preparation slots remain open for low moderate income and elderly looking to have their taxes prepared at no charge for the 2010 tax season said George Kuebler, VITA facilitator for Porter County, with the United Way Regional Volunteer Center.

Tax preparation under the VITA program can be done for those filers who have adjusted gross incomes of $49,000 or less.

Tax preparation hours are 9 am to 3 pm, Monday and Thursday and 1 to 4 pm on Tuesday through April 7. To accommodate last minute tax filers we are now opened, by appointment only, on Friday, April 8, Monday, April 11 and Friday, April 15 from 9 am to 3 pm. Tax filing deadline has been extended this year to April 18.

For one day only this year, walk-in tax preparation is being offered between 9 am and 3 pm on Thursday, April 7. Kuebler cautioned that the wait-time may back up because it is hard to predict the volume of interest.

In either case, by appointment or walk-in a number of specific documents are required in order to have the tax preparation done. These include: social security cards for all those being claimed, identification such as a driver’s license, all sources of income from W-2s for earned income, a social security statement, pension income and dividend or interest income from such organizations as banks or brokers. “Bringing in the previous year tax return is also very helpful,” Kuebler added.

Returns are filed electronically and taxpayers are required to sign a release which allows the VITA tax preparation program to send the files electronically,” Kuebler explained. “All taxpayers receive a printed copy for their records”.

For more information about the program you can call George Kuebler at the United Way Regional Volunteer Center, 219 464-3583 x 128, or email at: george@unitedwaypc.org . More information about the program and a complete list of the required documents is available on the web at: www.nwivolunteer.org under the VITA tab.