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Community Corner

Volunteers Needed! Opportunity Council celebrates 10 years of free tax prep

The Bucks County Opportunity Council Buck$Back Program marks 10 years providing free income tax preparation services on Saturday, February 1 with the opening of three tax preparation sites throughout Bucks County.  Volunteers are needed for the 2014 tax season to work directly with people who need help preparing their tax returns.

Since 2004, Buck$Back volunteers have helped prepare more than 7,000 income tax returns for low-to-moderate-income taxpayers, providing a value of $12.2 million in refunds, credits and fee savings.  The volunteers assist hard-working, motivated families and individuals to obtain crucial refunds that can be used to reduce debt, start a savings account, go back to school, or pay for reliable transportation.

Linda Price, a long-time Buck$Back volunteer, enjoys making life a little easier for people struggling in hard times.

“Helping people who are trying so hard to help themselves is the biggest part of what we [volunteers] do,” said Price.

Don’t know that much about taxes? Don’t worry. Training is free and available in person or online. The program needs greeters, tax preparers, quality reviewers and phone schedulers. Retired or practicing tax professionals, college students and individuals with no prior tax-preparation experience who complete the training program are welcome.

Become one of nearly 99,000 volunteers nationwide who helped people in their community file their tax returns.

“You think, wow, it’s really great. I was really able to make that person’s day,” Price said. “I encourage anyone who maybe doesn’t fit in a normal volunteer niche to consider something like this.”

“It’s really worth it,” she said. “It’s really worth it.”

Buck$Back is a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program administered by the Opportunity Council with funding support from the Bucks County Foundation in partnership with the Internal Revenue Service.

Sites are located in Lower, Central and Upper Bucks through partnerships with Foxwood Apartments in Levittown, St. Andrews United Methodist Church in Warminster, and the Gathering Pointe Community Center in Perkasie.

For specific information about volunteering for the program, visit www.bcoc.org and click Buck$Back or call 215-345-8175 x209. 

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Bucks County Opportunity Council is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping low-income people in Bucks County achieve and sustain economic self-sufficiency. For more information, visit www.bcoc.org.

Find out what's happening in Bensalemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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