With tax season in full swing, eligible participants can now receive help in filing their tax returns from a local Airdrie charity.
According to Laurie Jacob-Toews, community engagement manager with North Rocky View Community Links, the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program is an annual tax-filing service provided in collaboration with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
“We have volunteers who sign up through our agency, as well as through CRA, who are trained and screened through both organizations to provide a free tax service to those in the community who qualify,” she said. “It is meant for those who are low income, but also have a simple and straightforward tax return.”
A longstanding program, Jacob-Toews said she figures the free service has been in operation for more than 17 years. She said there are 11 volunteers who are signed up to help during tax season.
She said the volunteers are trained through CRA on how to file income taxes, and many have accounting or other tax-based backgrounds.
“This program is great because we know there are a lot of families that can’t afford to get their taxes done [by professionals],” she said.
Not only is it important to keep up to date with filing taxes, Jacob-Toews said it also opens up possibilities for people to receive certain benefits, such as GST credits, child tax credits or senior’s pensions.
“All of those things are tied to having your taxes done and up to date,” she said. “It’s such a great program for those who maybe can’t afford the $25 or $50 [that] someone would charge to do their taxes and allows them to access these additional supports.”
Last year, Community Links volunteers completed 474 tax returns, according to Jacob-Toews, who said they’re anticipating similar demand in 2021.
“It’s quite a few,” she said. “We’re expecting the same number, or possibly even more knowing that there are more people who are now unemployed and may fall into that low-income bracket.”
She added the program helped recipients receive a collective $270,000 in tax refunds in 2020 and a total of $1.9 million in various benefits.
“During the pandemic last year, we made a decision to keep this program going because of all the things people can benefit from,” she said.
For Airdronians who are interested in participating in the program, there is an eligibility form that needs to be filled out beforehand. As a single person, the income threshold is $35,000 a year, for two people it’s $45,000 and rises from there in increments of $2,500 a year per additional person.
Jacob-Toews said people can call the intake staff with Community Links to find out if they meet the service’s requirements at 403-945-3900 or email [email protected]
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
