Resources Available for Filing Your Taxes
*Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) update: The President's healthcare law has mandated all Americans purchase health insurance coverage or pay a fine. Find out how to navigate the law's tax provisions here: http://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act.
Like many Americans, you may be overwhelmed by the daunting and time-consuming paperwork that results from our nation’s complicated tax system. Fortunately, there are free assistance and tax preparation programs available to ease the process on American taxpayers, including this presentation from the IRS on the reporting health insurance coverage on your tax forms.
ACA Marketplace Tax Provisions Impacting Individuals and Families
AARP Foundation Tax-Aide
AARP Foundation Tax-Aide, given a grant by the IRS, is a free service to help low- to moderate-income taxpayers, especially those 60 and older, file their taxes and get all credits and deductions applicable to them. Trained volunteers sign a code of ethics before assisting tax-filers, and all but the name and address is deleted after filing.
Find an AARP Foundation Tax-Aide location near you by typing in your zip code at www.aarp.org/findtaxhelp or calling 888-227-7669.
*Please note this information is provided strictly as a service to taxpayers and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide or AARP as an organization.
Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE)
The Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program offers free tax help via certified volunteers to provide counseling and tax preparation assistance to individuals who are age 60 or older, specializing in issues unique to seniors such as pensions and retirement.
Click the following link for more information: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Tax-Counseling-for-the-Elderly.
Free File Program
The Free File Program is a partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance, which is comprised of private sector companies that offer tax preparation software. It provides eligible taxpayers free access to leading tax preparation software, offering step-by-step help to prepare and e-file federal tax returns online.
More information is available at: www.IRS.gov/FreeFile.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
The VITA Program offers free tax help to people who make $52,000 or less. IRS-certified volunteers provide free basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing to qualified individuals at community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools, shopping malls and other local locations. They can inform taxpayers about special tax credits for which they may qualify such as Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled.
To find the nearest VITA site, visit http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Free-Tax-Return-Preparation-for-You-by-Volunteers or call 800-906-9887.
Additional resources
- Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a financial boost for many working people and communities. More than 27 million people received more than $65 billion in EITC for the 2014 tax year. More information: https://www.eitc.irs.gov/.
- IRS Services Guide: A simple map for finding the various taxpayer resources at the IRS. View the guide at: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5136.pdf.
- Taxpayers may also order current and prior year tax forms, instructions and publications by calling 800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676).
- For individual tax issues, the IRS’ customer service line is 800-829-1040. For business-related tax issues, call 800-829-4933.