American Falls school district prepping taxes for free
AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)– Students and staff from American Falls School District 381 are offering free tax filing services until Tax Day in April.
Two district employees and two American Falls High School students completed 20 hours of IRS-provided training to prepare to help people file their taxes through the national Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.
"Paid preparers are awesome and they do a good job, but sometimes the cost of it can be more than somebody is willing to pay," said Charity Hunt, Information Center Coordinator for the school district. "The IRS has this program for people that necessarily can't afford to have their tax return paid for or pay for their preparation."
This is the first year that Hunt coordinated the program for the American Falls School District.
Hunt said one of the main goals for bringing the VITA program to American Falls was to help graduating high school students prepare their taxes so they can complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to attend college.
"They have a counselor over at the high school that helps kids with submitting their FAFSA forms, and they've seen some of those kids parents not submit tax returns and they can't qualify for a grant if they don't have any tax returns submitted," said Hunt.
Tax preparation assistance through the American Falls School District is available to everyone in the area in both English and Spanish.
The program is offered every Monday and Wednesday from 4 to 7pm and Saturday from 12 to 4 pm at the American Falls School District office on 827 Fort Hall Ave.
