By Patric Hedlund

At tax time, who wants to pay Uncle Sam more than necessary? Do you want to receive all the tax refunds and earned income tax credits to which you are entitled? Are you sure you are getting the Child Tax Credit due to you? Are you an elder who hasn’t gotten around to filing your taxes for a few years? Do you want competent, trained help, for free?

All you have to do is ask.

Trained volunteers in Kern County, coordinated by the United Way, have received a grant from the IRS to help low-to-moderate-income individuals and families with their tax returns—for free.

Call to preregister for tax help: 661.245.4303.

If 12 or more Mountain Community residents preregister by calling the Mountain Communities Family Resource Center, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program will come here to help with their tax returns—for free, said Sandi Truman of the Community Action Partnership of Kern.

Tell your friends and family. Ask them to preregister too. Call today. If 12 or more people call, a Monday in March will be set for VITA’s visit here.

VITA’s goal is for Kern County residents to receive all the tax benefits they’ve earned, their website says, with an emphasis on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit, along with Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE).

The EITC is a refundable tax credit. Tens of millions of dollars of EITC goes unclaimed in Kern County each year because people don’t know they are eligible. Because it is an earned credit, the amount of a family’s refund can sometimes exceed the amount of tax withheld from their paychecks.

Call to preregister for tax help: 661.245.4303.

This is part of the February 7, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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