Free Tax Prep Sites to Help Philly #ClaimYourMoney by April 15th

The City partnered with trusted community partners to provide 25+ free tax prep sites for people making less than 60K, seniors, and people with disabilities

Claim Your MoneyPhoto byCity of Philadelphia's CEO Office

Free File & #ClaimYour Money with CWF, Ceiba and More

This year, the City's Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity (CEO) has partnered with The Campaign for Working Families (CWFPhilly), Ceiba, and Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation to launch #ClaimYourMoney. Now you can get your taxes prepared for free and Free File at 25 IRS-certified sites by the April 15th deadline. CWF is hosting a #ClaimYourMoney event this week.

#ClaimYourMoney Event - March 27th

Claim Your Money FlyerPhoto byCrossroads Women's Center

If you're unable to attend this event, you can call and schedule an appointment at one of the sites. You can call CWFPhilly at 215-454-6483 or visit their website, cwfphilly.org for more information.

CWFPhilly Free Tax Prep Sites in Philly, and Delco

Here are just a few VITA sites in Philly and Delco:
Northwest Careerlink - Northwest
AchieveAbility - West
Olney Free Library - North
District 1199C - Center City
Senator Tim Kearney's Office - Upper Darby

Document listPhoto byCWFPhilly

"It’s your money to use for whatever you want, but you need to file to claim it. Tens of thousands of people miss out on claiming it every year. There’s no reason to leave that money in the government’s pocket when it could—and should—be in yours!"

The IRS said that only 77.7% of Pennsylvanians claimed their Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in 2020. On average 20% of Americans leave thousands of dollars on the table in tax credits and refunds and you have a limited amount of time to claim previous years. The tax deadline is April 15th.

Earned Income Tax CreditPhoto byThe City's Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity

Click here to see a video of how EITC can help you.

According to the IRS.gov website, The IRS's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs offer free basic tax return preparation to qualified individuals. In my original article, I shared that any person who makes less than $60,000 and/or has a disability or is a senior citizen could have their taxes prepared and filed for FREE by VITA or TCE, an IRS program. This is not a scam - this program has been around for years.

CWFPhilly Opened Free Tax Prep Sites January 22, 2024

CWFPhilly Infographic andPhoto byCWFPhilly

Please remember VITA sites can only help file 2023 taxes - they cannot file prior year or amended tax returns. Please call for a full list of documents YOU will need to bring to file your taxes because every person's tax situation is different, but:

As I said in my first article, Every tax season I'm amazed by how many people pay popular companies or their neighborhood pop-up tax shop because they've never heard of VITA or TCE. If you only worked 1 or 2 jobs and you're not a homeowner, or you're a student worker or a senior who can file an EZ form - there is no need to pay someone to prepare and file your taxes.

What are you waiting for? The PATH Act refund hold ended February 28th. People who claim Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) can Free File and get their refunds back faster using direct deposit and IRS-certified VITA and TCE programs.

For more information about how to find other official VITA or TCE free tax prep sites visit IRS website.

Thank you for reading and #ClaimYourMoney!

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