FARMINGTON — Tax season is here, and the deadline has been extended to May 17, unemployment bills have been passed and the COVID-19 pandemic persists. Western Maine CA$H is still taking appointments. United Way has extended their ‘season’ as well, normally wrapping up around the third week of March. This year, they are taking appointments through the end of April.
For households that make less than $57,000/year and are interested in getting their taxes done by an IRS-certified preparer should call United Way to make an appointment. There are two ways for tax filers to get started:
1) Call 778-7954 and schedule an appointment for United Way’s Scan & Go service. Preparers will meet
one-on-one with filers to get their tax paperwork, ID information, etc. scanned in. A follow up appointment (by phone or in person) will be scheduled to review the completed return. Once reviewed and approved, the taxes will be e-filed as usual.
2) Go to www.getyourrefund.org/westrnme and scan documents directly to United Way. To make the process more user-friendly, United Way has partnered with GetYourRefund. It is as easy as taking a
picture with a phone and uploading it to the secure cloud. Filers will be contacted within 72 hours of the upload to confirm that tax preparers have everything. The taxes will be prepared virtually by IRS-certified volunteers within a week.
The Western Maine CA$H (Creating Assets, Savings & Hope) Coalition has an amazing group of
volunteers who are IRS-certified and ready to remotely prepare 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 $600 in December/January). The stimulus can be distributed through the Federal return process. For those needing only a State of Maine return, Western Maine CA$H
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.
For households that made under $57,000 in 2020, IRS- certified volunteers will prepare and e-
file taxes for free. There is a specific quality control process established to maintain a high rate of successfully filed returns. Western Maine CA$H has the lowest reject rate in the state, and their volunteers will work hard to get applicants the best return possible. Their Opportunity Guides will share information on valuable resources in the 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 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 www.cashmaine.org. For more
information about United Way of the Tri-Valley Area, check out the website at www.uwtva.org,
the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/uwtva), call (207) 778-5048, or visit; 218 Fairbanks Rd.
Farmington, ME.
