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If you dread doing your taxes, here's where help is available

Newswatch 16's Courtney Harrison spoke with student volunteers helping with a tax assistance program in Scranton.

SCRANTON, Pa. — Inside Brennan Hall on the University of Scranton campus, people are getting free help doing their taxes.

Terrence Taylor says he dreads having to do his taxes and was thankful for the help.

"They give information and don't rob and take advantage of you at the same time, so it was pretty good. I actually liked it. Now I'll come back every year if I can."

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) helps area residents whose households earned $60,000 or less last year to file their federal, state, and local tax returns.

Those guiding people through the tax return process are University of Scranton accounting students.

"This is just perfect experience. It doesn't get any better. These are the clients that I would see day by day through the year, and I just love doing taxes. People might call me crazy for that, but it's a lot of fun, and I love helping people," said Jimmy Greenfield, and income tax assistance volunteer.

Joseph Hammond is the program coordinator and says the University of Scranton has offered this program for more than 30 years, except during the pandemic.

"Before the pandemic, we were way up in the eight, nine hundreds. But the pandemic killed it, and this year we're trying to get back in the swing of things," Hammond said.

Taylor says he used to pay to have his taxes done, but he's trying to save money these days.

"Gas is extremely high, food is going up. It's like you need every dollar, especially for your kids too."

If you're interested in taking advantage of this tax assistance program, you can find more information here.

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