A volunteer-driven tax drop-off program helped over 100 Raleigh County citizens complete their taxes this year.
According to information provided by the Raleigh County Public Library, the library, along with Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) members, the West Virginia Alliance for Sustainable Families and the IRS, was able to provide this service for those who needed it.
Due to the pandemic, the tax service looked a little different this year.
Community members would schedule appointments with the library and bring in all their tax information such as driver’s licenses, social security cards, W-2s, and other forms. Library staff, who completed financial and tax confidentiality training prior to the start of this program, would then make copies of all of these documents and seal them in specific envelopes, along with VITA tax paperwork. The VITA volunteers would pick those envelopes up at the library, file each person’s taxes, and return the envelopes to the library. Community members could then sign the last of the paperwork and pick up the copies of their documents once everything was done.
“I was a little nervous this program may be difficult to hold during Covid, but it actually went off so smoothly,” said Addie Gilkerson, service coordinator for the library’s drop-off program. “We assisted more individuals and families from our county and those surrounding us than I ever imagined. Kim Canterbury, the EITC Director for the West Virginia Alliance for Sustainable Families headed up the program and was so patient with us and always available to help. We couldn’t have done this without her.”
VITA will likely be partnering with the library again for the 2022 tax season. More details will be available at that time.
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