COLUMBIA, S.C. — Is your income $55,000/year or less in 2018 you could get free help doing your taxes.
The Cooperative Ministry offers the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program for free tax preparation assistance. The VITA program will begin in early February and continue through mid-April in partnership with SC Thrive and the United Way.
Trained volunteer tax-preparers will assist qualified individuals in completing and electronically filing Federal and South Carolina tax returns for the 2018 tax year, and in some cases, for prior years. Individuals can also find out if they qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC).
For households with more than $55,000 in 2018, other forms of free tax assistance are available. Through SC Thrive’s tax filing tool, The Benefit Bank, taxpayers can file South Carolina and Federal returns for free if income is $65,000 or less as an individual or $95,000 or less as a married couple filing jointly.
A third option for tax filers is filing through the United Way’s MyFreeTaxes.com. MyFreeTaxes.com is completely free for individuals and families earning less than $66,000 in 2018 regardless of filing in multiple states, income from freelance work, or earned investment income.
Together, The Cooperative Ministry’s VITA program and SC Thrive processed more than 16,000 income tax returns in 2018, returning more than $13 million to South Carolinians in the form of tax refunds.
To find a VITA or SC Thrive site near you, please visit SC211.org or call 2-1-1. Please visit www.coopmin.com/vita for a list of VITA tax sites and times, and visit anytime Monday, Feb. 4 through Monday, Feb. 15. Taxpayers can also visit scthrive.org/filetaxes to complete their taxes through the self-serve system.
