Free IncomeTax Preparation Services

It is the 2006 tax season and with that comes the decision on how to prepare your income tax return. You want to take your tax return to a tax preparer, but cannot afford to pay a lot for the service. What do you do? Your 2006 income tax return can be prepared competently and easily by any of the following tax preparing options.

There are options available to you if you choose to have a tax professional prepare your income tax return. And, the tax preparation services are provided free of charge. There is no cost to you. The free options mentioned in this article are mainly for lower to moderate income level individuals, however. Plus, they all are in-person tax preparation services. This means you will be meeting your income tax preparer face-to-face.

If you are interested in a free tax preparation program, you can find a couple really good ones offered through the IRS. TCE, TaxAide, and VITA are all IRS programs meant to help you with your 2006 income tax preparation. Let us learn a bit more about these helpful programs.

First of all, each tax preparer involved in any of these free programs must be current with the IRS tax laws. They also must be specially trained to help you with your income tax return preparation. In other words, they are expected to know their stuff. You can feel confident going to any of these organizations for help.

All of these income tax preparation programs are offered at centers throughout the United States.

TCE. TCE (Tax Counseling for the Elderly) is the free income tax preparation service/program we will discuss. This IRS program is geared towards the elderly population of taxpayers (which is obvious from its title). In order to qualify for using this IRS program, the elderly person needing income tax preparation assistance must be in the low to moderate income (under $39,000 annual gross income) level. That criteria must be met.

TaxAide. Everyone is familiar with the organization AARP (American Association of Retired Persons). Well, this popular organization has an IRS partnership program whereby they provide free income tax preparation assistance. Many of the tax preparers are former tax professionals and/or enrolled agents themselves. You must meet certain qualifications and criteria to use this program, of course.

To get more information about TaxAide, you can either visit the IRS website or the AARP website. AARP is located at www.aarp.org.

VITA. VITA, an acronym for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, is another free income tax preparation program offered through the IRS. Volunteers from various walks of life (all trained in preparing IRS income tax laws), offer their expertise to those needing it.

Many volunteers involved in these programs are former tax professionals themselves.

Go online to www.irs.gov for more information about the free in-person income tax preparation programs available. Visit this section of the IRS website to find your local chapters and tax preparers, too.

While we are mentioned free income tax preparation services, there are some other alternatives available outside of the IRS programs. They are found throughout your community at colleges, business schools, universities, and other volunteer organizations. Many upper level accounting students want and need the experience. They are specially trained in current IRS tax laws and help out their community members by providing free income tax preparation. It is kind of like an internship. More than likely, however, the tax returns need to be basic in nature. The students work under the direct supervision of their professor or other university personnel member. Call your local higher education facility to check if any such program is offered.

Good luck!