South Floridians are tapping into a new trend this tax season: free help with tax returns.
Ana Arias got it, a $7,000 refund that helped her buy a car.
"I thought I had to pay something and they told me no you don’t have to pay anything. It’s free," Arias said.
Tax preparer Connie Guzman said she was trained by the Internal Revenue Service and now does taxes for free for folks like Arias, totaling about 20 people a day. And these tax preparers will travel to the person filing taxes. They are part of a program run by the United Way and Hispanic Unity in Broward.
"We bring the tax services to people where they are, especially important for people with barriers to transportation, often times we go to employers and oftentimes they will allow the employees to come out," said Mary Lynn Lovejoy, from the Broward United Way.
People who make less than $50,000 a year are eligible to get their taxes done this way. Guzman's job is to maximize people's refunds. They use the earned income credit tax provision to find refunds for many.
"The earned income credit is a benefit that the government gives to families with children," Guzman said.
Last year the program helped almost 400 Broward residents obtain a total of $444,000 in refunds.
People need to bring their Social Security cards, W2 Forms, 1099s and a government photo identification.
"Taxes get done for free. It doesn’t get any better than that, and I got a refund," Renzo Torrenga said.
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