Volunteer Bureau busy with tax returns

With a team of volunteers now working away diligently, the Fort Frances Volunteer Bureau is helping low-income families, the disabled, and elderly file their income taxes once again this year.
“It’s been steady,” assistant co-ordinator Karen Haney said yesterday. “We’ve done well over a 100 returns.
“We’re doing pretty good, but I just want people to know we’ll take more,” she added. “We’re open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and they can drop by anytime they’re ready.”
The Volunteer Bureau is located in the old CN station.
Haney noted all people have to do is drop off their receipts, T4s, and such, and the volunteers should have their returns ready to send into the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency a couple of days later.
The Volunteer Bureau is keeping track of who brought theirs in first, so when the returns are sent off, they’ll be processed in that order.
Volunteers have been processing the returns for the past three weeks.
Haney said dozens of volunteers are in place this year, including the 20 or so who attended an all-day training workshop here last month led by Lorna Engel, volunteer co-ordinator for the Thunder Bay Tax Services Office of the CCRA.
The program is based on a net income of $22,000 or less for individuals ($30,000 or less for couples).
But the free service also is provided to those who exceed that amount in certain situations, Haney noted, such as new Canadians who still don’t know how filing income tax works.
Haney said the Volunteer Bureau also is interested in helping people help themselves so they don’t have to come back next year—or even could share their new skills with others in need of help.
The local Volunteer Bureau has been organizing this assistance for the past nine years. The program handled about 500 tax returns last year.
While the deadline to file your taxes is April 30, the Volunteer Bureau will accept returns for some time after that date.
It does not get paid by the CCRA to provide this service.
If you have any questions, or want to make an appointment to learn how to do your own taxes, call Haney at 274-9555.