Earned Income Tax Credit

Saving Families Money This Tax Season

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program helps low-income families get the tax refund they deserve through free tax-preparation help.

EITC is a tax refund for low-income working people and families. Families can get a credit of up to $5,000. That money can be an extra boost to help people pay off bills or make a down payment on their first home.

Many people don't know about EITC, so a trained volunteer tax preparer can make sure that the IRS has all the documentation needed to get families the refunds they qualify for.

How to get tax prep help

January through April, search for a tax-prep site through CASH Oregon, which in partnership with AARP Tax-Aide, has 145 sites all over Oregon.

How to help families by volunteering:

You can volunteer as a tax preparer, greeter, or interpreter and you don't necessarily need experience because you will be fully trained before you start. Learn more here.

Why United Way Supports EITC

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program, a United Way Strategic Income Initiative, is an important component of United Way’s focus on financial stability and has received contributions from Bank of America and Walmart to support free tax preparation centers.

Many lower income people don’t know that they may be eligible to get tax refunds through EITC, and millions of refund dollars go unclaimed each year. Typically EITC is available to a family of four earning less than $48,352 and to individuals who earn less than $13,460.

Last year, 269,250 individuals and families in Oregon got an average of $1,941 back in EITC credits. That returned a total of $523 million to the local economy.

If it is between January and April, you can find a free tax preparation center through CASH Oregon or AARP. Find out if you qualify for EITC on the IRS website.

Read United Way's income results for more information on the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Jeff and Rita: Working to Provide Free Tax Assistance

Jeff works to help lower income individuals and families receive the Earned Income Tax Credit at a free tax preparation site in Lloyd Center.

Jeff has been working to provide free tax preparation for the past seven years, the past four of which have been spent at CASH Oregon’s Lloyd Center free tax preparation center as a site coordinator. Nearly all the people that visit the site qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit and United Way of the Columbia-Willamette provides funds to help those clients receive the credit.

“Most of the people we help here are either surprised or delighted that they’re receiving a considerable refund or they’re counting on that money to help pay family bills,” Jeff said. “The way I see it, my job has two goals, first to make sure our clients are following all the tax laws to keep them out of trouble with the IRS and second to make sure they pay out as little as possible as allowed by tax law to help them better support their families.”

Rob Justus, Executive Director of CASH Oregon commends Jeff’s tireless efforts to save low income families money and ensure their taxes are filed correctly. “Jeff created the bar that all our tax sites adhere to for quality control,” said Rob. “Jeff developed a training course for all our tax volunteers on quality control and he makes sure we score 100% in site IRS audits meaning that all the tax returns we do are accurate.”

Rita volunteers to prepare taxes for free with CASH Oregon.

Rita is one of the volunteers who works three days a week to help prepare taxes for lower income individuals and families. “I enjoy being able to help people so much that I often stay so long into the evening they have to kick me out!” Rita said. “My mother used to volunteer doing tax preparation so last year I decided I wanted to help too and took the four 8 hour classes needed to become a certified tax preparer and I just love it.”

This tax season, the CASH Oregon site in Lloyd Center Mall is on track to file 3,000 returns for free, which would set a record for this location. They are expecting to file 16,000 free tax returns at all the 53 CASH Oregon tax sites combined thanks to over 300 volunteer tax preparers like Rita.

United Way Earned Income Tax Credit Initiative Sponsors