Just Harvest needs you to volunteer this coming tax season: January through mid-April!
Volunteers connect hard-working people to their full tax refunds making a huge difference in our community. With your help, we can continue to expand our impact.
Click here to learn more about the Free Tax Prep Coalition, or click here to join us as a volunteer tax preparer or greeter.
What is it like to volunteer?
No professional experience required! Free training is provided. Not sure about preparing taxes? Greeter volunteers are also needed!
REWARDING
When you become a volunteer tax preparer or greeter, you make an immediate difference. Last year, volunteers saved working families more than $2 million in tax prep fees, leading to $10.6 million in refunds. Continuing education credits and internships are available.
SHORT-TERM COMMITMENT
Volunteers commit 3+ hours each week during tax season. New preparers complete 15 hours of free training in January. Greeters complete just 3 hours of free training. Last year, our 280 volunteers prepared nearly 8,000 returns! Staff are available to answer questions and provide support.
CONVENIENT
Day, evening and weekend volunteer hours are available. Just Harvest operates four tax sites and we partner with other VITA sites at 20+ locations in southwestern PA. Volunteers choose their tax sites and schedules. Just Harvest tax sites are at:
- Just Harvest office in the South Side
- CCAC Boyce Campus in Monroeville
- Bedford Envision Center in the Hill District
- Bhutanese Community Association in Brentwood
But wait, why taxes?
The answer is simple: the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) do more to lift working families out of poverty than any other programs in the country. With an average credit of $2400, the EITC alongside the CTC has lifted nearly 8 million people out of poverty each year.
VITA allows taxpayers to avoid the high cost of tax preparers to access these public benefits. Without fees or profit concerns, we focus on ensuring taxpayers receive all of their applicable tax credits and take the time to explain the tax return and next steps. Paid tax preparers often encourage taxpayers to make financial decisions that are not in their best interest, such as high-cost loans to receive their refund right away.
Research on the effects of the EITC has proven:
- People eat better when they access the EITC.
- Women in low-wage jobs who access the EITC have healthier babies.
- Children who benefit from the EITC have better school performance, and into adulthood have higher earnings.
What is our impact?
Since 2003, Just Harvest has completed nearly 49,000 tax returns and refunded roughly $92 million to low-income families! Of this, over $37 million was through the Earned Income Tax Credit. This fantastic work was made possible by hundreds of volunteers donating thousands of hours of service.
Volunteer!
You can learn more here about being a tax volunteer or join us here. Registration for a specific tax site and time opens in late October. Contact Anna Woomer with any questions at [email protected]
I will ask my friends, since they already had experience in the last and the season before last, they really liked it, I think they would like to do this this year and help people!