NORWICH – With tax season quickly approaching, millions of people across the country will seek help in having their taxes prepared and filed. In Chenango County, the Creating Assets, Savings and Hope (CASH) Coalition is available to help.

For the tenth year, the CASH Coalition is offering free tax filing services for residents of Madison and Chenango County who earned less than $51,000 this tax year. The program – made possible by a collaborative partnership between the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program, Upstate Institute at Colgate University and the Chenango County United Way – has benefitted thousands of area residents over the years.

According to Casey Frazee, VITA coordinator for Chenango and Madison counties, hundreds of households took advantage of the program in 2013. Given fiscal changes in many individual’s income or changes in their marital or parental status, hundreds more may qualify this year.

Under the VITA Program, volunteers provide free basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing to qualified individuals in local communities. These volunteers can inform taxpayers about special tax credits for which they may qualify, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and credit for the elderly or the disabled. Electronic filing is able to get residents their tax return in as little as two weeks.

According to the to the IRS, only one out of five eligible workers currently claim an Earned Income Tax Credit – something the Chenango County CASH Coalition hopes to rectify locally, said Frazee. “We did about $1.65 million in returns last year,” she said. Of those, nearly two-thirds were the result of claimed Earned Income Tax Credits.

Most of the nearly 60 volunteers for the Chenango and Madison CASH Coalition are students of Colgate University who are looking to gain experience while also lending a helping hand to the community.

“We have Colgate students who are IRS certified to file taxes and they are pared with not for profits in Chenango and Madison counties. We also have some community volunteers from local organizations as well as financial institutions,” explained Frazee. “We are fortunate to always have enough volunteers for the clients who need to be served.”

VITA sites are typically found at community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools, shopping malls and other convenient locations. While four VITA locations have been established in Madison County, only one is available in Chenango County at the Cornell Cooperative Extension, 99 N. Broad St. in Norwich.

Due to recent government furloughs, tax season has been delayed, Frazee said. “But we are hoping to schedule appointments for residents soon ... One of the reasons this program started is to make sure as many people who qualify for these credits know about them and take advantage,” she added. “We’re hoping to serve as many people in the county as we can.”

To help preparers accurately determine Earned Income Tax Credit eligibility and prepare returns, individuals should bring with them:

• Photo proof of identification