Volunteers who prepared income tax returns for county residents helped bring more than $1.9 million in refunds to the community at no cost to the taxpayer.

Each year, the United Ways of Chautauqua County administer the federal Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) program locally, training volunteers to prepare income tax returns as a free service to residents.

This year, the program helped prepare a total of 1,307 federal tax returns and 1,362 state returns – with the average federal refund being $1,241 and the average state refund being $259.

“We are chartered to service low-to-moderate income taxpayers,” said Joe Kwiatkowski, coordinator of the VITA program for the United Ways of northern and southern Chautauqua County. “We also prepare tax returns for citizens with disabilities and with limited English proficiency.”

In addition to preparing people’s taxes, volunteers facilitating the federal VITA program also focus on getting residents as many of the possible tax credits that they are eligible for – this year helping 248 county residents receive the Earned Income Tax Credit and 227 residents receive child tax credits.

The goal of United Way and its volunteers is to ensure that 100% of individuals’ refunds are returned to the taxpayers locally.

“The key to the continued success of the federal VITA program is the partnership we’ve fostered with our compatriots in northern Chautauqua County,” said Amy Rohler, United Way of Southern Chautauqua County executive director. “Having a countywide VITA coordinator shared between our two agencies allows us to more effectively and efficiently serve eligible households in the county.”

Behind the scenes, the United Ways of Chautauqua County administers the federal VITA grant by coordinating the community sites where the tax preparation is held and training volunteers to facilitate the tax preparations. Once confirmed with the sites at the start of the year, appointments become available to schedule in late January through April at locations throughout the county. Each year, all the scheduling of appointments is handled by 211 Western New York, which is a free service partially funded by United Way that county residents can call for help with a number of health and human services issues.

“It’s a pretty incredible person who chooses to do this kind of intensive volunteer work, and it is a benefit to our county that more than $1.9 million in refunds have been returned to the community,” Rohler said.

Anyone interested in volunteering to prepare taxes as part of next year’s VITA program, contact United Way of Southern Chautauqua County by calling 716-483-1561 or emailing volunteer@uwayscc.org.