SAN ANTONIO – State and local leaders gathered Wednesday morning at City Hall to announce the kick-off of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, which offers free tax preparation.
VITA volunteers will be available through April 17 for San Antonio and Bexar County individuals and families who earned up to $60,000 last year.
A new app, VITA SA, will be available this year. Billy Cox, a VITA volunteer, is looking forward to using the online tool.
"One of the challenges we had last year was we had some sites that had too many volunteers, while a lot of sites had not enough. So, we said, 'What can we do to let the volunteers know where they can go and be the most effective rather than be frustrated?'" Cox said. "I'm highly optimistic that app will help us push the volunteers to the sites that need help. Therefore, we will help more clients. That is what it really is all about."
Last year, VITA helped prepare more than 31,000 tax returns, which resulted in more than $54 million in refunds to taxpayers, including more than $21 million in Earned Income Tax Credit dollars, officials said. The free service saved taxpayers an estimated $10 million in tax preparation fees.
For more information about the program, click here.