VITA program again to offer free tax help
After assisting over 250 taxpayers with their 2022 federal tax returns, and over 315 with their 2023 federal tax returns, IRS-certified volunteers with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program are returning to the local area again this winter, where they hope to assist even more taxpayers with their 2024 tax returns.
The Gulf County VITA program, operated by volunteers with the United Way of Northwest Florida, is just four years old, part of a 56-year-old program nationwide. The VITA program offers free tax help to people who need assistance in preparing and filing their own returns, including people who generally make less than $64,000 a year, persons with disabilities and limited English-speaking taxpayers.
This year, the Gulf County VITA volunteer team has 11 IRS-certified tax preparers, three of them tax-certified to prepare returns for military taxpayers. The VITA volunteer team also includes nine IRS-certified greeters who help taxpayers with making appointments and completing the interview form.
To participate as a VITA Greeter or Tax Preparer, volunteers must complete a rigorous course of study and pass tests that cover the various types of tax situations they will handle at their sites.
Appointments are available at two Gulf County locations from Feb. 3 through April 15. Taxpayers can make appointments at the Gulf County Senior Center in Port St. Joe on Mondays and Thursdays and at the Wewahitchka Library on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Taxpayers do not need to be residents of Gulf County to benefit from VITA’s free tax preparation and e-filing services. The Gulf County VITA volunteer team helped many taxpayers from surrounding counties and even some from out-of-state with their 2023 tax returns.
For more information about the program, call 850-227-8737 to speak with Joan Hill, the Gulf County tax site coordinator. Taxpayers can make appointments by visiting www.bit.ly/RealSenseTaxes, or can call the tax site at 850-227-8737, and a VITA volunteer will make the appointment for them.
Please note that the appointment scheduling system will not be operational until mid-January 2025.
Taxpayers should bring the following items with them for their tax appointment: Photo IDs; Social Security cards for taxpayers and all dependents; a check with the routing number and account number for direct deposit of any refunds, W-2s and all other income forms; and the Form 1095-A, if the taxpayer received health coverage from the Marketplace.
During the 2024 tax filing season, dedicated IRS partners like United Way of Northwest Florida supported over 9,000 VITA/TCE sites, with more than 72,000 volunteers. VITA/TCE sites prepared and filed over 2.7 million tax returns across the country. For 2024, these IRS partners achieved an incredible 94.99% accuracy rate on returns prepared by volunteers.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.