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EITC VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers are the service delivery engine of the program, carefully preparing each and every tax return. UWKC coordinates volunteer activities and schedules but it takes commitment from every community to recruit the diverse multi-lingual volunteer pool needed to reflect the communities and populations that we serve.

In 2005 EITC volunteers spoke 27 languages and many had at least 10 years of tax preparation experience. Volunteers included students, tax professionals, retirees, and accountants. One volunteer said, the best part of being an EITC Volunteer is "Feeling that I was helping to make a difference for people in the community, both financially and emotionally—filing taxes can be stressful!"

Volunteer jobs include: tax preparers, greeter/screeners, quality control experts and interpreters. Each position plays an important role in making sure every customer receives high quality service. Tax preparation sites are staffed by a paid site manager who oversees the IRS-certified volunteers. On average, sites have five tax volunteers available during each session.

In 2005, volunteers committed to seven four-hour shifts and attendance at an 8 hour IRS training. In order to provide better customer service, shorten wait times and enhance the overall quality of the program we will increase the amount of training and the time commitment for all volunteers and site managers in 2006.

200 Volunteers dedicated over 5,000 hours to the 2005 EITC Campaign

Bellevue - Hopelink

Hopelink hosted a free tax preparation site for the second year in 2005 - growing from 259 returns in 2004 to 357 in 2005. The Hopelink site was sponsored by First Mutual Bank.

A dedicated volunteer staff and strong outreach efforts contributed to the success of this site. St. Andrews Housing Group, YWCA and the City of Bellevue joined Hopelink in developing and implementing outreach strategies. EITC volunteers at Hopelink included Microsoft employees, students and community members.

  • Returns Prepared
357
  • Total Federal Refunds
$511,854
  • Average Refund
$1,434
  • Total EITC
$221,494
  • Average EITC
$1,571
  • # EITC Claimants
141
  • % EITC Claimants
39%
  • Total Child Tax Credit
$146,825
  • Average AGI
$17,043
A mother and daughter came in to have the daughter's tax return done. The daughter had recently lost her husband. The mother only spoke Spanish; the daughter was deaf and only used sign language. One volunteer knew Spanish and one volunteer knew sign language. These two volunteers were able to successfully complete the daughter's tax return. The help did not stop here. One of the volunteers had connections in the Mexican community and was able to get the mother and daughter connected with individual's who could help them get needed assistance. Then the volunteer gave them a ride home. After completing this, the mother told me "God Bless You."
~EITC VOLUNTEER

DOWNLOAD EITC Report 2005(PDF*)

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