With her 1-year-old son hospitalized with a heart condition, Tyisha had more on her mind than preparing and filing her tax return.
Still, taxes can’t be ignored, so one afternoon in March the mother from Boone County took advantage of United Way of Greater Cincinnati’s Free Tax Prep site at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center’s Burnet Campus.
“I was grateful they could do it,” Tyisha said. “Now I can go downstairs and see my child, and I don’t have to go somewhere else.”
Dr. John Feister, a neonatologist at Cincinnati Children’s, was instrumental in arranging for a Free Tax Prep site at the hospital for the first time. Yvonne Smith, a longtime Free Tax Prep volunteer, was site coordinator. Feister said he saw a need for families to have easy access to the free service. And he knows many families depend on tax refunds, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Last year, Free Tax Prep saved taxpayers more than $2 million in filing fees and helped them claim more than $9 million in federal refunds.
Tyisha said she will receive “an excellent refund” and that at least some of it will be used to pay bills. “I’m a substitute teacher, so in the summer I’ll need a little help since I don’t get paid.”
In the past, she paid someone to do her taxes. When she learned that Free Tax Prep relies on trained, IRS-certified volunteers, she said: “Oh, bless their hearts. They were very helpful and patient.”
Free Tax Prep is funded by United Way and the IRS. As one of United Way’s signature programs, the initiative plays an important role in the organization’s mission to help individuals and families achieve economic well-being by keeping more money in the pockets of people who need it most.
United Way operates over 30 Free Tax Prep sites in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. The Cincinnati Children’s site is now closed for this tax season.
For more information, visit uwgc.org/ftp.
