Do you go into crisis mode each year when income tax time rolls around?
If you’re in need of assistance and make less than $51,000 as an individual or family, free help is just around the corner.
David Smith, head of the Accounting & Finance Department at Missouri Southern State University, says a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) team from MSSU will be available on Saturdays from Feb. 16 to April 13 to help Joplin area residents fill out their tax forms. The VITA team will not be offering assistance on Saturday, March 16 (Spring Break).
The forms will be prepared from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturdays in the computer labs on the third floor of the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center at Missouri Southern.
Another group is partnering with the VITA team to make the experience as helpful as possible. The Missouri Southern Spanish Club will provide Spanish language interpreters.
“If you make up to $51,000, we can complete your federal 1040 or 1040A return and file it electronically, including Schedules A and B (interest income and itemized deductions), child credit, child care credit, education credits, and EIC (Earned Income Credit),” Smith says. “We can also prepare and file your Missouri, Kansas and/or Oklahoma tax forms electronically,” he adds.
Smith says it has been nearly ten years since VITA was offered by MSSU students in Joplin.
“There was huge demand for it,” Smith says. “We wanted our students and community to know we are here to help.” Read more.