Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)

Members News

February 3, 2022

The United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties is once again offering the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program to prepare local, state and federal income tax returns for FREE!  There are NO hidden fees or charges – this is a completely FREE Service designed to help people secure all the refunds and credits for which they are eligible.

How do I schedule an appointment?

There’s two ways to schedule an appointment:

  1. Schedule an appointment by clicking HERE
  2. Starting Monday, January 3rd, call 2-1-1 and speak to an agent that can book your appointment over the phone.
    • In the case 2-1-1 doesn’t connect, be sure to call 570.602.3133 to schedule your appointment.  Please leave a voicemail when/if prompted.

When does the VITA program start?

You can schedule your VITA appointment today!  The first day on the schedule for this current tax season will be Friday, February 4th.

What if I want to file my own taxes?

If you’d like to file your taxes on your own, The United Way offers help for those who are comfortable preparing their own taxes online. MyFreeTaxes, powered by TaxSlayer, is available nationwide and includes federal and unlimited state returns FOR FREE while avoiding restrictive eligibility criteria.  There is no age or geographic limitations.  MyFreeTaxes follows the IRS VITA program guidelines and target filers who generally earn around $57,000 or less, but filers with incomes over this threshold will not be blocked from using this FREE Software and will not be charged any fees!

Is VITA for me?

Our VITA volunteers will prepare state, local and federal tax returns for households and senior citizens from Northeast Pennsylvania that have income during 2021 of $57,000. Wage earners and non-wage earners are both eligible.

VITA by the numbers:

During the 2021 tax season, the United Way’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program saved our tax clients $228,300 in fees as we filed 1,522 tax returns for free with $1,658,329 in federal refunds being returned to the community—and the budgets of hard-working area families.

Information about 2022 VITA appointments:

For a complete checklist of what you need for your tax drop-off, a schedule of this year’s appointments, and more CLICK HERE