As next month's tax deadline looms, taxpayers may find themselves overwhelmed by the complexity of tax preparation itself as well as the size of their tax bills. Help is available for many low to moderate income taxpayers from the city of Boston. At tax-preparation assistance sites located all over the city, including at the Action for Boston Community Development South End Neighborhood Center at 554 Columbus Avenue, volunteers are helping residents to discover tax-credit programs for which they are qualified and to improve their financial status with counseling and financial planning.

Mimi Turchinetz of the Mayor's Office of Jobs and Community Services is coalition director of Boston Tax Help Coalition, which began in 2001 as a public-private partnership. "We've been doing taxes and asset building for close to 15 years. We learned about the opportunity and need through folks in Chicago and Tulsa. There was a push through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) across the country to create community based coalitions, and I learned about it through Jobs and Community Services, which is part of the BRA."

Boston Tax Help Coalition has promoted its services and expanded its reach to the public significantly in its 14 years, assisting a little over 500 taxpayers in its first year at Codman Community Health Center, and planning to help with over 12,000 tax returns this year, about one-third at Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) sites around the city. ABCD has become an important venue for the Coalition's services. "ABCD has an infrastructure that works because people know about the locations and that they serve the community, so they are a perfect partner," Turchinetz said. The Boston Tax Help Coalition's South End tax-preparation site is ABCD's Columbus Avenue center. Boston Tax Help Coalition has approximately 400 volunteers this year who offer services in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Somali, Portuguese, and both Haitian and Cape Verdean Creole.

A key focus of Boston Tax Help's services is to educate low-income taxpayers on the availability of the Earned Income Credit (EIC). "The reason we focused on EIC initially is because it is the most effective tool for rising out of poverty. It lifts 6.3 million people out of poverty every year. It's a refundable credit for people who work. Even if you don't owe money, you get money back. In EIC, we specifically focus on making sure low to moderate income people don't get ripped off," Turchinetz said.

It is particularly important to Turchinetz and the Coalition to dispel a widespread misconception. "You don't have to have children to receive the EIC; you can be a low income single person and receive it if you earn up to $12,000 a year and are single." However, Boston Tax Help Coalition services and EIC eligibility are available not only to clients of extremely low income, but to moderate-income households as well. According to the Coalition's web site, taxpayers who are married with three or more children and earning $52,427 or less may be eligible for the EIC.

As part of its assistance and advocacy for lower-income residents and taxpayers, Boston Tax Help Coalition offers a financial check-up with a free credit check and financial counseling that begins when a client comes in for tax services. The Coalition also offers a financial empowerment program that provides more long-term counseling to help clients increase their credit scores, assets and income. Turchinetz explained, "Financial empowerment is about meeting people were they are at and working with them to develop their future and take control of their financial lives. We are serving 200 people for 18 months to two years with financial empowerment. Clients are assigned a financial coach and have a visioning session on how they want to move life forward, meet their financial needs and develop their financial future."

With assistance from the United Way and other sources, Boston Tax Help Coalition operates its financial coaching programs at Roxbury Center for Financial Empowerment, Jewish Vocational Services and other sites.
In another city-sponsored initiative intended to aid homeowners struggling with their tax bills as property valuations rise precipitously, Mayor Walsh signed a home rule petition earlier this year that revised the eligibility rules of an existing tax deferral program for longtime homeowners. The Long-Term Homeowner Tax Deferral home rule petition, proposed by city council president Bill Linehan of District 2 and city councilor at-large Stephen J. Murphy, lowers the age of eligibility for the tax relief program from 65 to 55. The program allows homeowners to defer their property taxes until sale, transfer, or death of the property owner. The taxes are then paid with an interest rate of four per cent. The income limit for eligibility is tied to the state's "circuit breaker" tax credit, and according to the Department of Revenue web site, the income limits for that program are $56,000 for a single taxpayer, $70,000 for a head of household, and $84,000 for married filing jointly taxpayers, with adjustments for certain personal exemptions and deductions. In an informal survey of thirty- to forty-year South End homeowners, none said they were eligible for this tax credit. Brian Robinson, operations manager of the Boston Tax Help Coalition, reported, "At our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites, we serve very few taxpayers who would benefit from the property tax deferral program for elderly homeowners. However, one of our VITA partner organizations, ABCD, is also involved with Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) tax preparation and has much more experience with preparing taxes for this demographic." Isabel Garcia, ABCD's public information director, said, "ABCD does specialize in senior taxes from our days as a former Tax Counseling for Elders grantee, and we continue our commitment to the senior community in Boston. We work closely with our Elder Services department and other departments internally and externally to get the word out on the deductions that help seniors save money like the deferral and abatement options for personal property. We do see a lot of senior homeowners."

For more information on the Boston Tax Help Coalition's services, locations and hours, please visit www.bostontaxhelp.org. The ABCD South End Neighborhood Services Center at 554 Columbus Avenue can be reached at 617/267-7400 for the schedule of tax-preparation assistance volunteers.