Home Start, a local organization dedicated to strengthening children, families, and the community, is offering to help families across San Diego county electronically file both state and federal taxes at no cost to the families through its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.
The VITA program offers free tax preparation to help those who generally earn $57,500 a year or less. The program is also available to persons with disabilities and limited English-speaking taxpayers who need assistance in preparing their own tax returns.
Home Start Program Manager Angelica Gonzalez said VITA volunteers include students completing tax preparation courses as well as retired Certified Public Accountants who are sometimes willing to take on more complicated tax returns. All volunteers are certified through the Internal Revenue Service.
The first step, Gonzalez said, is for volunteers to check whether people qualify for the service and whether they have internet access so they can upload documents through a secure link. If a potential client does not have internet service, the program manager said, Home Start workers will make accommodations so documents can be dropped off and staff will upload them so they are available prior to individual virtual appointments.
“First, they will receive a call at a scheduled appointment time. At that appointment, we go through all the information and do a quality review, then another appointment is set up for them to get their taxes,” Gonzalez said.
Outside of tax season, Home Start addresses conditions such as poverty, unsafe neighborhoods, lack of affordable housing, unemployment and individual self-sufficiency— that goal is not entirely removed from tax preparation, Gonzalez said, where volunteers can potentially provide clients with resource information.
“When they get screened for tax preparation, we ask if they have Medicare, or any form of health insurance- it comes up in conversation naturally. If they don’t have anything, our volunteers refer them to Medicare so they don’t get penalized on taxes but it also ensures people have insurance. If they express other needs and want to get assessed for other services, we can do some of that, like provide information on CalFresh,” Gonzalez said.
Individuals who contact them for help but are above the $57,000 annual income cutoff point are directed to other agencies, Gonzalez said.
“The IRS gives us rules to follow but we try to help everyone as best as we can,” Gonzalez said.
There are outreach programs specific to unique populations, she said, and VITA has volunteers that work specifically with sensitive populations.
“The VITA program has an outreach component for different populations, homeless individuals is one of them. Internally, we work with some special populations. For example, we have a population that was recently released from prison and is reintegrating to society— we try to help them, especially with back taxes. However, there are organizations that specifically get funding for special populations,” Gonzalez said.
Anyone interested in tax preparation with Home Start can call (619) 229-3660 to make an appointment. County residents can also call 2-1-1 to make an appointment with any resource group that utilizes VITA volunteers.
