What’s faster than getting an answer on a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) hotline, more powerful than TurboTax, and able to leap tall mountains of paperwork in a single bound? It’s the Community Tax Volunteers, who are back again this year to prepare tax returns for qualifying residents.
The local volunteers are part of the nation-wide Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP), which is sponsored by the CRA and provides training and software to help the volunteers prepare tax returns. The free service is available to any single person with a net income of less than $30,000 per year, or to couples who jointly earn less than $40,000 per year net, regardless of their age. Students, seniors, First Nations, and low-income earners can all make use of the service, which is for residents of Spences Bridge, Ashcroft, Cache Creek, Walhachin, Clinton, the Ashcroft Indian Band, the Bonaparte Band, and surrounding areas.
The service is intended for people whose tax returns are relatively basic, but who may not be willing or able to tackle doing them on their own, and for whom the cost of having them prepared by someone else might be prohibitive. Participants bring all relevant paperwork and receipts to the volunteers, who prepare the return and file it electronically, usually within a day. Refunds are usually received within two weeks.
The service, which was started in Ashcroft by Gordon Berdan, has been running locally for more than 40 years. Those assisting with returns receive no remuneration, and get no money from the CRA for such things as office rental or stationery supplies. Each year between 200 and 250 local residents make use of the service.
Vivian Edwards, the Ashcroft program coordinator, says that something people should remember to bring in is paperwork showing medical expenses; not just receipts for prescriptions, glasses, hearing aids, walkers, and more, but documentation showing out-of-town trips for medical appointments and procedures (mileage, meals, and overnight accommodation can qualify as deductions). “People forget to bring this information in, and it can mean a lot if you pay income tax,” says Edwards.
This year the local volunteers are operating out of area libraries. In Ashcroft, tax volunteers will be at the library every Friday (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) from March 2 to May 4 (please use the entrance at the side of the library on 2nd Street). Volunteers will be at the Cache Creek Library every other Tuesday (March 6 and 20; April 3 and 17; May 1) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and will be at the Clinton Library every Tuesday from March 6 to April 30 between 12:30 and 4 p.m. Please do not bring in paperwork at other times, as library staff will not be able to accept it.
The service is a drop-in one, and Edwards says that the first two sessions are usually very busy, so there might be a wait to be seen. After that, however, things are more quiet. “You might not have to wait at all.”
For more information contact Vivian Edwards (Ashcroft; 250-453-9077) or Yvette May (Clinton; 250-459-7725).
editorial@accjournal.ca
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