There is still time for anyone with a household income of $50,000 or less to get their taxes prepared free of charge at Lee University or Kmart where taxes will be filed until Saturday.
Lee University’s site is open Friday from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., and the Kmart site is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Locations at the Cleveland Community Center and Bradley Baptist Association sites are closed.
The VITA program provided an average savings to individual taxpayers in preparation fees in the range of $125 to $200 per return. Overall, the program saved taxpayers about $109,688 in real dollars.
A breakdown of services provided at each site shows the Bradley Baptist Association prepared 59 returns and Cleveland Community Center prepared 47 returns. So far, Kmart has served 132 taxpayers and Lee University has prepared 437 returns for a total of 675 tax forms filed.
Cleveland City Manager Janice Casteel said Monday the main reason Kmart and Lee University have a higher volume is a larger pool of volunteers.
“Flowers Bakery will be utilizing this service for their employees next year, so we are expecting to see an increase in returns at the Community Center and hopefully more volunteers,” she said. “I have received numerous compliments from IRS representative Joseph Kotsis on the Community Center staff for their cooperation and professionalism.”
She said Kotsis also complimented all of the volunteers on their spirit of cooperation and for the assistance of all organizations that support the program.
