Low- and middle-income taxpayers may be eligible to receive free assistance to compute their taxes and file their returns electronically through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.
Low-income and some middle-income taxpayers can file their tax returns for free at local Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites. In coordination with the IRS, VITA sites are operated by outside organizations (e.g., community organizations).
In the VITA program, volunteers prepare taxpayers’ returns at no cost. To receive this assistance, a taxpayer must make $64,000 or less, be disabled, or have limited English-speaking skills. VITA preparers must pass an IRS test on tax laws to participate in the program.
At a VITA site, a taxpayer can meet one-on-one with a volunteer preparer. Alternatively, the taxpayer can drop her tax documents at a VITA intake site, and a volunteer preparer can discuss the return with her by phone or video.
VITA sites are largely operated by nonprofit organizations. Although those sites generally are not funded by the IRS, organizations can apply for a matching grant from the IRS. In addition, the IRS supplies training materials and publications and lends laptops.
A similar program—Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE)—helps taxpayers who are age 60 or older, regardless of income.
In 2022, 2.2 million tax returns were prepared at the roughly 9,000 VITA or TCE sites. The IRS estimates that 96 percent of returns prepared by volunteers at those sites were accurate.
Updated January 2024
Internal Revenue Service. 2024. “Free Tax Return Preparation for Qualifying Taxpayers.” Internal Revenue Service: Washington, DC.
Auxier, Richard. 2022. “Volunteer Tax Prep Is a Crash Course in Pandemic Tax Policy.” TaxVox. Washington, DC: Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.