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In 1968, four volunteers in Florida opened the first-ever AARP Foundation Tax-Aide site. Since then, over 75 million Americans have had their taxes prepared by Tax-Aide, making it the largest free tax-preparation program in the country.
Last year, more than 25,000 volunteers all across the country helped more than 1.2 million people with their tax forms, recovering more than $1 billion in refunds.
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And this year, the program is poised to shake off some COVID-era challenges and return to more places, offering a host of ways to get help with your taxes.
For the thousands of volunteers who make it happen, it is a critical mission to help people get their tax refunds.
“These people’s lives are in our hands. For some of them, getting a $3,000 refund means the extra cash they need to afford a used car so they can get a job and get their family out of poverty,” says Jeanne “Sam” Helmrick, 69, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who has been a volunteer for eight years. “It’s very rewarding. It’s real contact volunteering.”
The program lost some volunteers in the past couple of years due to COVID restrictions. But a successful recruitment effort in the fall brought in several thousand new participants, generating real momentum to get the program back up to pre-pandemic levels of around 36,000 volunteers.
Here’s the outlook for the current tax season.
There will be about 4,000 sites nationwide.
Tax-Aide started providing preparation services in February and will continue through the filing deadline in April.
With changes first brought about by the pandemic, there are now seven ways to have your taxes prepared. See which one fits you best.
1. In-person visit
A Tax-Aide volunteer prepares taxes on-site in one visit.
