Here's Why You Might Want Your Taxes Filed at BetterFi
While there were as many as 604,000 Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) claims in Tennessee last year, the IRS’s most recent EITC participation data from 2015 showed that 18.2% of EITCs in Tennessee went unclaimed. Looking at that year’s data, a participation rate of 81.8% means that over $370,000,000 was left on the table by more than 147,000 families.
The IRS simply describes the EITC as a “benefit for working people with low to moderate income,” but for working families and those living paycheck-to-paycheck, the EITC can be a lifeline. The average EITC claimed in Tennessee last year was $2,573, equal to more than two and a half weeks of pay for the average Tennessee wage earner — more than four weeks of pay for the average Grundy County wage earner. The EITC is an extra lump of money that supplements a tax return for filers who meet certain qualifications.
The problem of unclaimed credits is compounded for low income wage earners when one looks at the average cost of using a tax preparer — as high as $210 in our state according to the National Society of Accountants, and many filers opt to get refund advances from tax preparation businesses that charge as much as 36% for advancing a refund that may only be a week or two away.
In a partnership with the University of South, their Office of Civic Engagement, and their Babson Center for Global Commerce, BetterFi is managing the operation of a free alternative to typical tax preparation at our office and at spaces across the Plateau. Anyone lives in one of the counties of the South Cumberland Plateau (Franklin, Grundy, and Marion) and earns under $55,000 per year is eligible to have our team of partners and volunteers complete and file their taxes for free, and we will make sure we get all filers the EITCs they’re owed.
Anyone interested in having their taxes filed through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program can get more information and register for an appointment at betterfi.co/vita.
Any questions can be directed to Richardson Irvine at vista@betterfi.co.
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For more information visit:
https://www.eitc.irs.gov/eitc-central/participation-rate/eitc-participation-rate-by-states
https://www.consumerreports.org/taxes/tax-refund-advance-should-you-apply/