VITA Saves Residents Thousands

Thanks to the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, this has been a great tax season with 105 returns being filed (for free!) and saving people in the Oasis neighborhood $229,500 in credits and refunds! When you consider that most people will spend at least $100 to have someone else do their return we have additionally saved the people of Caldwell over $10,000.

To prove this point read the following incredible story written by our head tax volunteer:  We had a lady come in who wanted us to amend her return. She had it initially done at one of those quicky tax places and they didn't do it right. They charged her $460 to do the return, $30 to e-file it and then asked for $45 to amend it. PLUS they filed the return so that they would get the refund so the money she received from them was treated as a short term loan at 85% interest until they received the money from the IRS! This was a simple return for a lady whose income was just over $6,000/year and it probably took them 20 minutes to do it. This is what goes on out there so the work we do is valuable and helps save people money, as well as making sure we get them all the credits they deserve.

Since Oasis of Hope began offering free Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) four years ago to the residents in the Oasis neighborhood, the following incredible statistics have been tallied over this period:  $918,000 was saved in credits or refunds for our clients, $60,5000 was saved additionally by filing returns for free, 605 returns were worked on, and 1,100 hours of work were donated by our volunteers!  Thank you to all involved!

Thank you volunteers for making such a HUGE difference!