Austin, TX

Believe it or not, it’s that time once again, time to start thinking about filing your taxes.

So if you need help, the Austin Community Tax Centers. opens next Tuesday January 22nd. Walter Moreau is with Foundation Communities. It’s an Austin based non-profit that provides the majority of the funding for the tax centers. He says “the last estimate that was done for Austin and Travis county estimates that about $30 million dollars goes unclaimed. That’s a phenomenal amount of money, particularly for families that are low income and working hard that really deserve fair treatment under the tax code.”

Clients must earn a certain income to be eligible for the free tax services. Individual clients must earn 25,000 dollars or less and families must earn 50,000 dollars or less. Amanda Ryan is with United Way Capitol Area. She says they just recently increased funding for Foundation Communities by 600 percent because “they’re really directly aligned with what we’re trying to do at United Way, which is helping people who can’t afford to live in Central Texas to increase their financial stability ultimately toward the goal of building savings and assets and the community tax centers are such a great example of that type of program, really helping people get their full tax refund so they don’t have to pay for a preparer.” There’ll be nine tax centers throughout the Austin area, including locations in Round Rock. For a list of locations. and available volunteer opportunities.

— Julie Moody