Community Tax Aid provides free tax preparation services to low income persons.

Description:
Community Tax Aid is an all volunteer, non-profit, tax-exempt organization which provides tax preparation services to low income tax payers during the tax season (mid-February through April 15). Services are provided at 11 sites around the city (Manhattan, Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn at present) several evenings a week and on Saturdays at community organization offices around the city. The service is completely free and we will prepare all necessary forms for our clientele. In addition, should there be questions or difficulties after tax season we provide our clients with a contact address for assistance by our volunteer accounting and legal professionals at no cost. Tax preparation training is provided for all volunteers and our sites are supervised by experienced tax preparers.

History:
Community Tax Aid (CTA) was formed in response to a change in the Tax Code, via the Tax Reform Act of 1969. Since then CTA has prepared more than 112,000 tax returns totaling over $1,000,000 in payments to our taxpayers. The organization has also been honored by the New York State Society of
Certified Public Accountants and the Mayor's office (1975) and highlighted in Newsday. In
1989 CTA's training program was approved for Continuing Education credit by the State of New York. As our volunteers moved for new job opportunities, they established similar programs in Boston and Washington, D.C.

Contact people:

Judith Russell, Secretary, (212) 613-3101, (email) Emil Gomez, Chairman, (917) 402-7563, (email) Sheldon Barasch, Pst Chair And Historian, (212) 815-1860, (email)

Address:

Box 1040, Cathedral Station New York, NY 10025 (See a map)

Overall Experience   
I learned so much from the training, made good friends and contacts and felt that I had helped a lot of really good people.

Community Tax Aid offered me an opportunity to feel as if I was really helping people and that my mind was a valuable resource. Through training and practice I have become quite knowledgeable about personal income tax and am constantly learning new things. I really like working with our clients and feel as if I've helped them a lot. CTA offers FREE, extremely competent services and stands behind its clients. I could be working for a "pay for service" place, but would feel bad about having to sell other services to clients who just need to have their tax forms filled out. I enjoy the clients and the long term relationships that I have made with them. I always leave my site feeling that I have done something good for the people I've served. posted by cta volunteer on October 21, 2006

Overall Experience   
Volunteering is the one of the most powerful sources of satisfaction within myself because I can rest knowing I've done somthing to help someone.

Forest Hills Community House Day Care Center I helped cvolunteer at this center and watched children and learned a lot from them. I love children and I love meeting new people. It's so important to help give something back to a community that has given you so much. posted by gfuller on April 2, 2005