REGION — Tax season is here, and the deadline has been extended (May 17, 2021), unemployment bills have been passed and we’re still dealing with COVID-19 … the good news is, Western Maine CA$H is still taking appointments. The organization has extended it’s ‘season’ as well. Normally we wrap up around the 3rd week of March, but this year, appointments will be accepted through the end of April. If you waited for all the dust to settle before making your appointment, go ahead and call, because it’s settled! If your household makes less than $57,000/year and would like to have your taxes done by an IRS-certified preparer, call us to schedule an appointment.

There are two ways for tax filers to get started:

1.  Call 207-778-7954 and schedule an appointment for the Scan & Go service. One-on-one meetings with filers will be setup to get the appropriate tax paperwork, ID information, etc. scanned in. A follow up appointment will be setup (by phone or in person) to review the completed return. Once reviewed and approved, the forms will be e-filed as usual. Voila, your taxes are done without a large gathering…no muss, no fuss.

2. Go to getyourrefund.org/westrnme and scan your documents right to us. We have partnered with GetYourRefund which is easy and user-friendly. It is as easy as taking a picture with your phone and uploading it to our secure cloud. You will be contacted within 72 hours of the upload to confirm that everything has been received, and your taxes will be prepared virtually by our IRS-certified volunteers within a week.

The Western Maine CA$H (Creating Assets, Savings & Hope) Coalition has an amazing group of volunteers who are IRS-certified and ready to (remotely) prepare your taxes for free.

This same process will apply for those who did not receive one of the two stimulus checks in 2020 (the $1,200 last March/April and the $600 in December/January). The stimulus funds can be filed for folks through the Federal return process. For those needing only a State of Maine return, we can do that too! This includes individuals with non-taxable income like Social Security, retirement, pensions (under a certain amount and with no withholdings), SSI, SSD, etc. and who pay property tax or rent. The State of Maine offers Property Tax Fairness Credit and Sales Use Tax Credit can range from $125 up to $1,200.

There is a specific quality control process established to ensure that we maintain our high rate of successfully filed returns (our site has the lowest reject rate in the State).Volunteers will work hard to get you the best return possible and our Opportunity Guides will share information on valuable resources in our community.

The CA$H Coalition’s mission is directly in line with the goals of United Way by having community members volunteer their resources and time to help other members of the Franklin and Northern Androscoggin communities learn more about financial security and promoting financial education.

The Western Maine CA$H Coalition and United Way care about you and the community and are taking every precaution to offer this service safely in compliance with CDC Guidelines. United Way and Western Maine CA$H look forward to providing this free tax prep service again this year.

To learn more about the Western Maine CA$H Coalition, and other locations, services and volunteer opportunities visit the State-wide CA$H website at cashmaine.org.

For more information about United Way of the Tri-Valley Area, visit uwtva.org, the Facebook page (facebook.com/uwtva), call 207-778-5048, or stop in at 218 Fairbanks Road. Farmington.