What do you get when 35 volunteers, join forces with a team of Lakes & Prairies staff?
On Thursday, February 24, Lakes & Prairies Tax Site Volunteers completed their 440th tax filing this tax season resulting in federal and state refunds of $1,210,722. It is estimated that the Tax Site will surpass the $1,293,000 that was reached last year on April 19th.
But there is more than refunds to this story. To date:
- 283 filers have participated in the Bridge to Benefits analysis screening tool where it has been determined that more than 100 households appeared eligible for one or more of the benefit programs including: MN Care, Energy Assistance, MN Food Support, Child Care Assistance, WIC and the free or reduced school lunch program.
- Filers with young children were also given information or invited to complete forms for Head Start enrollment and the United Way of Cass Clay's Imagination Library program that provides age appropriate books, monthly, to children from birth to their 5th birthday.
- 95 filers, many of whom were unbanked, signed up for a low-fee debit card program allowing electronic filing and receive e-refunds. The AccelaPay Debit Card option allows for expedited refunds and gives opportunity for such services as direct deposit and guaranteed, secure checks because the debit cards do not allow overdrafts.
- Households also were able to have their taxes prepared at outreach locations in Hawley (Clay County - at the REACH office ) and Breckenridge (Wilkin County - at the library).
SAVINGS: With a conservative estimate of an average savings of $150 cost per family for tax preparation, low and moderate income filers saved more than $66,000 in fees through this free service. In addition, with free filing, many low income filers saved many more dollars by avoiding the high predatory fees associated with Refund Anticipation Loans.
SUPPORTERS: This effort could not have been achieved without the funding support of West Central Initiative, Fergus Falls, with Family Economic Success and Rural Tax Site Outreach grants. This support, was joined with Minnesota Community Action Grant (CAG) dollars and a competitive grant from the MN Department of Revenue.
OUR THANKS: Our thanks to program staff including Child Care Resource & Referral for sharing their office space allowing for this growth in service, Family & Community Services staff for their help in training, and Head Start staff for getting word out to families with materials, one-on-one contact with parents and providing flyers and other information to parents over the last few months.
We have a big and growing list of THANK YOUs that we are tracking. Partner agencies have helped promote the free VITA tax site, some businesses have donated food for the volunteers, We'll have more to share in the coming weeks.
