Free preparation of income tax returns is available at Texas A&M University-San Antonio and Palo Alto College for anyone with a household income of $60,000 or less per year.
A&M San Antonio will host a tax clinic by appointment only 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, in modular building B, room B1E. Contact Dr. Chin-Yen Alice Liu, associate professor of business, at cliu@tamusa.edu for an appointment.
Liu said participants should meet the following requirements to qualify for the free tax assistance:
- Those filing jointly must have an annual household income of $60,000 or less.
- Those filing single or head of household must have an annual income of $60,000 or less.
Palo Alto is offering walk-in service 1-7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.Tuesday and Thursday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday through April 17 in portable 1, room 801-802. The tax services will not be available during spring break or Easter holidays, March 12-18 and March 30-April 1. Palo Alto, 1400 W. Villaret Blvd, is about an eight-minute drive from A&M San Antonio.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance will sit down with people here and at PAC to prepare and file their taxes. VITA is a group of volunteers who help people with their taxes. All of the VITA assistants are IRS trained and certified.
Liu, who is in charge of the A&M San Antonio event, teaches a Service Learning in Business course. Her students are required to take a comprehension test to become an IRS-certified tax return preparer. They will run most of the event Feb. 24. This is the first time students will offer the service to the TAMUSA community, Liu said.
Through a similar project at Palo Alto College, accounting Professor Amanda Salinas and her students also are volunteering to help VITA run these events.
“A service learning project is one in which the professor requires students to complete some form of community service as a grade requirement in the class,” Salinas said.
They should bring a valid form of identification, Social Security card and all tax forms that need to be filed. For those filing jointly, both people must be present.
Erica Meza, the coordinator of communications at Palo Alto College, said people should show up as early as possible. Weekdays are the best days to get assistance. Try to avoid lunch hours and Saturdays, as those are high traffic times.
Meza said, “…sooner rather than later would be best.”
Traffic will start to build up closer to April 17 when taxes are due.
The VITA site operations manager, Sheila Anderson-Ruth, said this community event has been held at Palo Alto College for 10 years. VITA prepares about 12,000 tax returns per season from January to April each year, Anderson-Ruth said.
For more information about the Feb. 24 tax event at TAMUSA and Palo Alto tax services click the following links:
