How to get free help with your tax preparation

Titi Mary/Nguoi-Viet English

WESTMINSTER, California (NV) – At least 25 nonprofit organizations in Orange County are available to help Orange County residents file their 2018 income taxes – at no charge – if their household income falls below $60,000 (for California state taxes) and $ 55,000 (for federal taxes).

They’re part of the OC Free Tax Prep coalition, whose membership roll includes United Way, Citi and various local cities including Anaheim, Santa Ana, Westminster and Garden Grove, and is dedicated to providing the free tax help.

If you don’t live in Orange County, check around. The services likely are available in your area, too.

Back in Orange County, individuals filing either single and joint taxes either can walk in (at some locations) or make an appointment with one of the IRS-certified volunteer income tax assistance preparers at various free tax-filing locations in Orange County.

While tax software – some available for free online – makes it seem simple enough to file online, there are things that you might not think about that the IRS-certified assistants will.

One of them is the earned income tax credit, which enables working individuals to receive tax credits in the form of a tax refund if their income falls within certain guidelines.
Tax credits for individuals include family and dependent credits, income and savings credits, homeowner credits, health care credits and education credits.

Deductions for individuals include work-related deductions, itemized deductions, education deductions, health care deductions and investment-related deductions.

According to the United Way, the coalition saved Orange County residents about $3.83 million in tax preparation fees last year with their services, bringing back $16.3 million in federal and states refunds to individuals they helped.

In Little Saigon, a simple W2 tax filing costs from $20 to $80, depending on the tax-filing status of single or married couples filed jointly. Those are the only two forms of tax filing statuses that United Way takes.

“I’m retired, but I have to file taxes every year,” said Mr. Danh Au, a Garden Grove resident. “We came here today for the free tax-filing to save a bit of money, even though it’s not that much. We mainly wanted to support the Vietnamese heritage elected-officials who show concerns and pay attention to the Vietnamese American voters in the diaspora.”

Andrew Do, Orange County’s first district supervisor, Assemblyman Tyler Diep and Mayor Tri Ta recently supported a United Way-led tax-preparation day at the Westminster city’s community room.

Another day for free tax-filing event led by United Way and sponsored by State Senator Tom Umberg, is scheduled for April 5 from noon to 4 p.m., at Coastline Community College, 12901 Euclid St., First Floor in Garden Grove.

Maria Mugica, the project manager at Orange County United Way, said the agency has about 30 locations Orange County to help low- and moderate-income households filing taxes for free. ”We use Taxslayer, a tax-prep software provided by the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) system, to help 98 percent of our customers,” Mugica said.

For more information, visit www.ocfreetaxprep.com.

Lâm Hoài Thạch and Công Thành contributed to this report.

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