The United Way of Central Texas is giving free tax filing services to community members in Killeen, Temple, Harker Heights and Belton.
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is to help the ones who bring in an average of $55,000 annual income or less a year.
Last year, they served almost 1,000 Central Texans and are already looking to surpass that goal by the last day on April 15. There are eight locations in the Central Texas area with various times through the weeks for people to sign up for.
Last years tax returns totaled almost $1.4 million given back to the community in Bell County with a 99 percent acceptance rate.
"The demand is there, and so people are trying to get in and we want to be accommodating as possible," said Veshell Greene, the United Way of Central Texas Director of Public Relations.
With the influx in the ones wanting the free service, there is a high demand for volunteers.
All volunteers will go through a 16-hour training to become certified by the IRS. Some volunteers are college students or working on a degree in accounting. They hope by volunteering they will gain some real-world experience instead of sitting in a classroom watching a lecture.
"Trying to dip my feet into different accounting stuff, either through audit or tax. I'm trying to figure out if I want to do tax, so this is just a starting point of where I would like to be," said Katherine Wilganowski, a volunteer.
United Way of Central Texas is already receiving calls making appointments two weeks out. Although walk-ins are welcome they aren't recommended based upon the high demand.
To learn if a location is close to you, visit the United Way of Central Texas website.
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