Preparing and Filing Your Tax Return Online Can Be Free for those with income of $62,000 or less

Lakes and Prairies is  proud to partner and promote the My Free Taxes. com website and online, free tax filing service.

Some people are best helped during the tax season by going to a free VITA or TCE tax site.  Others feel quite comfortable using a computer and filing their taxes on their own.  With some services, offers of free tax preparation mean only free for the federal return with fees charged for filing state returns.  But, my free taxes.com includes the filing of up to three state tax returns at no cost.

If you are not sure whether you want to file electronically on your own or whether you might rather attend a free tax preparation location near where you live; you can visit this website and when you enter your zip code it will also tell you what locations for free tax preparation are within 5, 10, 25 or more miles from your location.

Our thanks to the Partner organization and sponsors across the country for adding this valuable service to our existing VITA and TCE free tax preparation assistance services.

Lakes & Prairies Receives Promising Practice Award

Staff, volunteers, board members and program participants
came forward to receive the award.

Brenda Maaninga, Lakes & Prairies Tax Site
Coordinator  accepts award on behalf of volunteers
and staff who worked together for the success
of this effort.

The  "Banking the Unbanked" through our VITA Tax Siteproject received a Promising Practice award at the Minnesota Community Action Partnership Best Practice ceremony held on February 15th in St. Paul.

The Practice:  Lakes & Prairies Community Action Partnership has incorporated pre-paid debit card services as a method to provide low cost banking services to the previously unbanked. 

Households utilizing VITA Tax Site services were offered the opportunity to sign up for a pre-paid debit card to deposit their refund.  The Impact: The pre-paid debit card provides the households the ability to build savings, avoid predatory lending practices and work toward financial security.The debit cards are FDIC insured, very low fees, and protect against the possibility of overdraft.