FREE TAX PREP SERVICES AVAILABLE TO CHICAGO RESIDENTS

Chicago Residents can take advantage of free tax prep services throughout the city from February to April. Photo Credit: Jasmin Shah
Chicago Residents can take advantage of free tax prep services throughout the city from February to April. Photo Credit: Jasmin Shah

Free Tax Prep Services available to Chicago residents

BY TIA CAROL JONES

Chicago residents are able to receive free tax preparation services through the city’s Tax Prep Chicago program.

The program is open to residents who earn up to $30,000 individually and $56,000 as a family, as well as those who need to file an amendment to their Form 1040X or IL-1040-X.

For more than 15 years, the city of Chicago has partnered with Ladder Up to provide free tax services. Ladder Up was founded 25 years ago with the mission of helping hardworking families succeed financially.

One of the ways Ladder Up does this is by providing free tax preparation to make sure people can get their returns done without incurring any of the costs associated with using a commercial tax preparer.

Christine Cheng, executive director of Ladder Up, said one of the things the organization is proud of is how much it is able to help the clients secure and how much clients save in commercial tax preparation.

“We are in it for the good of our clients, we’re about putting our clients interests first,” she said.

There are 15 sites throughout the city, which include the Chicago Public Library, 5615 W. Race, in Austin; UCAN, 3605 W. Fillmore, in North Lawndale; Kennedy-King College, 6343 S. Halsted, in Englewood; Olive-Harvey College, 1001 S. Woodlawn, in Pullman; and Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State, in the Loop.

“If a taxpayer comes in, there’s going to be a wait, it’s first come, first serve,” Cheng said.

There are multiple steps to the process, which includes an intake and screening to make sure the person is eligible for the service. Each return is seen and prepared by two people, the second person does the quality review to ensure accuracy and allow the client to ask questions.

“We do this so there’s a little bit of demystification as to why a tax return is the way it is,” Cheng said. “A lot of what we hear in general is ‘I never knew why I owed.’”

Cheng said other questions include the basic math the IRS uses and even explanations as to why a return might have a different outcome than expected.

“Being able to shed some light is pretty common,” she said.

The services for Ladder Up’s tax assistance program are provided by volunteers. There is also a need for volunteers.

“We provide all of the training. You do have to have the desire to give back in this way,” Cheng said. “This is a skills-based volunteer opportunity and you have the ability to have a lot of impact.”

Cheng added, there are also non-tax roles at the sites for those interested in volunteering.

The tax assistance program at Ladder Up is part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Cheng said while there are hundreds of programs across the country, Ladder Up processes 23,000 returns, which is a lot. She said the organization is always trying to do what it can to build its capacity.

“While we do a lot in relation to VITA programs, what we do is just a sliver of what the total need is,” she said. “We’re looking at different ways to amplify what we do.” Cheng said the organization realizes that many people are using their refund to pay for everyday expenses.

“This is their hard-earned money and we want them to keep as much of it in their pockets as possible,” she said.

For more information, visit www.goladderup.org/TAP or www.taxprepchicago.org.

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