Taxes Prepared for Free, With Love

By Victoria Leon Guerrero

There are many reasons why people put off filing their taxes until the last minute: they don’t know how to do it on their own, it costs too much to get someone else to do it, they fear they may owe the government money, or they simply procrastinate. This year, I threw all my own excuses out the window and decided to get my taxes prepared, FOR FREE, early.

Since I make less than $39,000 a year, I qualify for free tax preparation services at a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Site. I live in East Oakland and found a VITA site in my neighborhood at the San Antonio Community Development Corporation. I had no idea what to expect, but I figured anything that was free must be good, so I gave them a call.

I was greeted by the lovely voice of Patricia Constantine. Pat is the director of financial services and is the organization’s main tax preparer. She said I could walk in from 8 a.m. to noon or from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday or set up an appointment for Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. I decided to walk-in on a Tuesday morning.

When I got there, Pat was busy finishing someone else’s taxes. “Hello baby,” she greeted me with a kind smile and handed me a few forms to fill out. With my forms complete, I returned to her desk just as 30-year-old Gerald Williams was preparing to leave.
 
“This was very helpful for me,” he said. “It’s expensive to get your taxes done at H&R Block or some place commercial like that. This helps you file and avoid problems and I know my taxes will be done correctly.”

Gerald, a college graduate and former Marine, recently lost his job. He heard about the VITA site from his mother who saw a news segment warning against tax refund anticipation loans.

“VITA sites help people not to get those awful loans,” Pat said.

Major tax preparers like H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt tend to market tax Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) in low-income neighborhoods calling them “quick cash” or “instant refunds.” But these loans are not just fast money, they cost money. RALs carry interest rates as high as 239% and are risky for customers if the tax preparer over-estimates the amount of their refund.

Pat encourages tax filers who come to her VITA site to open a bank account instead of taking out these loans, so they can have their refund deposited in 10 days or less (I ended up receiving mine in as little as seven days). As of April 4, 2007, 26 of Pat’s clients have opened bank accounts.

“The people have to want an account,” she said. “It’s important to get them into the mainstream, but they have to want it. Banking gives you a plus; you can demand better jobs and get paid direct deposit. Also, in a lot of neighborhoods people have to pay to cash their checks. When they go cash their checks at the grocery store around the corner they have to buy $100 worth of groceries and pay 10 percent of their check.”

Pat was an incredible tax preparer. She filed my taxes in just 10 minutes while other clients started to arrive: a husband, wife and grandmother, a 20-year old who came with her mother, and a single mother who took off from work to do her taxes.

“You came here last year, didn’t you?” Pat asked Shaneaka Evans, 20.
“Yes,” Shaneaka replied with a huge smile.
“I remember,” Pat said.

Although she helps anywhere from 14 to 16 people file their taxes a day, Pat never forgets a client.

“I like to see my clients start from nowhere and become self-reliant, to work and go to school and graduate,” Pat said. “To see the joy on people’s faces when they get extra money is one thing, but it’s another thing to see the joy when they get a bank account, or to see them three or four years later not having to file for the Earned Income Tax Credit but instead for the Child Tax Credit because they’ve improved their income.”

Pat had a client who made only $9,000 in 2002. But in the four years since she’s come to the VITA site, Pat has seen her get into Mills College, graduate and find a good job that increased her income fivefold to $48,000 a year.

It’s amazing what a little bit of love and compassion from your tax preparer can yield. In this small office in East Oakland, people are not only walking away with tax refunds, they are walking into a more financially secure lifestyle.

To find a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Site near you, call the IRA toll free at 1-800-829-1040 or go to the Franchise Tax Board’s website at http://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/vita/sites.asp. Bay Area residents can call 1-800-358-8832 or 211.