If your city is not listed on the site map, it is likely we are not operating a tax preparation program in that area, however, we can refer you to one of our community or coalition partners.
If you live in Huntsville, check with the United Way of Madison County or Decatur Public Library.
If you live in Anniston/Gadsden, check with the United Way of East Central Alabama or RSVP of Etowah County.
If you live in Auburn/Opelika, check with the Alabama Council on Human Resources or Goodwill of the Southern Rivers.
For any area nationwide, use the IRS’s VITA Locator to locate the nearest volunteer tax site to you.
If you would like to use a virtual volunteer tax service, check out GetYourRefund.
If you prefer to file your own return online, check out our SaveFirst Self-Prep program.
The primary taxpayer MUST be present. The taxpayer’s SPOUSE must be present if filing jointly.
Government-issued photo ID for the taxpayer (and spouse, if filing jointly)
Social Security cards for ALL members of your household, including dependents
All W-2s and other income documents
All 1098 and 1099 forms, if you received them
Healthcare Marketplace statement (Form 1095-A), if you had Marketplace insurance
Tax returns from the prior two years or the most recent tax year you filed (preferred but not mandatory)
Bank account number and routing number if you would like to directly deposit a refund
Any mail you received from the IRS during the tax year
Masks may be required. Please bring a mask to your appointment.
See a full list of items here.
At your tax preparation appointment, you can sit with the preparer from start to finish. During this time, you can ask questions about the process or the entries being made for your return. If your return can not be completed at the tax site the preparer can refer you to a community or coalition partner (See ‘Can You Do My Taxes?’ question below). Otherwise, you can expect the following process:
- Sign in, fill out an intake form, and wait to be seen.
- A preparer will call you over to review your intake responses, Social Security Card(s), photo ID(s), and all of your tax documents.
- The tax preparer will enter your basic information (including bank account information for direct deposits or debits), income, and expenses using your documents.
- All entries will be reviewed by a second preparer.
- After the return is reviewed with you, it will be printed and you will be asked to sign it. Please keep this printed copy for your records.
- The return will be e-filed by the end of business.
- The Site Coordinator will contact you if the IRS rejects your return.
There are several alternatives we can take:
We may accept a photocopy of a Social Security Card.
We may accept original issuing documentation of an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) or Adoption Taxpayer Identification Number (ATIN). However, please note that tax returns for foreign exchange students and Resident Aliens are often out of our certification level to prepare.
If you have a Medicare card from 2017 or before, your SSN should be listed before the letter “A” on the card. This is an acceptable alternative. However, Medicare cards from 2018 or later do not have Social Security numbers listed and cannot be used as an alternative.
Form SSA-1099 (If you have this form, then you should bring it regardless.)
If you do not have any of the above cards/documents, then the return can be prepared but cannot be e-filed until you return WITH a Social Security card for every person listed on the return. This policy is for your security and identity protection.
To get a replacement card, you should visit your nearest Social Security Administration office to request a new Social Security Card. This same procedure applies if you are missing the Social Security card of a spouse or any dependents.
It’s free!
Our sites are certified at the Advanced level and can prepare most simple tax returns (Form 1040) for individuals and other households. However, our volunteers are not trained to prepare some tax topics.
For a full list of what is out of scope for VITA programs like ours, please look here. Our sites do not have the Military, International, Foreign Student, or Puerto Rico certifications.
The income limit for our in-person program is $50,000 for single individuals with no dependents and $60,000 for all other households.
E-filed returns: We will not notify you if your return is accepted. However, if the IRS or state Department of Revenue rejects your e-filed return and we are unable to correct the reject, we will notify you within 24 hours.
Paper returns: Some returns cannot be e-filed and must be mailed. We have no control over the status of paper returns once you mail them to the IRS or state Department of Revenue.
Please check your IRS tax account for the status of your federal return.
Please check MyAlabamaTaxes for the status of your Alabama tax return and MyDORWAY.
Once a tax return has been accepted by the IRS, we have no control over how long a refund will take to arrive. Generally, refunds are direct deposited within 21 days of the tax appointment. Paper checks take about 4-6 weeks to be mailed.
You can go to irs.gov/refunds and click “Check My Refund Status” to check on the status of the return. You will need your SSN, filing status, and refund amount for this. All of this information can be found on the copy of your tax return you received at the tax site.
If you received the Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit, your refunds are not allowed by law to be paid until after mid-February and may not start being paid until the end of February.
A refund can be reduced by the IRS for amounts owed for back taxes, child support, student loans, or other federal or state debts. There may be another reason the refund was reduced, but you will have to talk to the IRS directly to find out why. See Where’s My Refund on IRS.gov.
If the you would like to talk to your Site Coordinator, please fill out this form or call 1-888-998-2925 to leave a message. Site Coordinators typically respond in 1 to 2 business days.
Tax laws change every year, and you may not qualify for as large of a refund.
You can have smaller refunds due to changes in the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Credit, and Child & Dependent Care Expenses Credit.
If the you would like to talk to your Site Coordinator, please fill out this form or call 1-888-998-2925 to leave a message. Site Coordinators typically respond in 1 to 2 business days.
Occasionally, it takes additional time for the IRS system to update the status of tax returns. We recommend waiting a full two weeks to verify whether the IRS has your return. If it has been more than two weeks since you visited the tax site, please fill out this form or contact us at 1-888-998-2925 to let one of our Site Coordinators know. They will be in contact with you as soon as possible.
If your tax return has not been filed, please call us at 1-888-998-2925 and let us know immediately.
Once the return is filed, there is no way to correct the bank information. The bank should reject the deposit if the routing and account numbers do not match an actual account. Once the IRS receives the deposit back, they should mail a paper check to the address on the return. This will probably take several weeks.
If the incorrect account information is an actual account (someone else’s), you could have problems receiving your refund. You can call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 if you want more information. If the IRS sent the deposit and the bank hasn’t sent it back, there won’t be much the IRS can do. You should then contact your bank.
The return will be rejected by the IRS if a Social Security number is incorrect. A Site Coordinator should contact you shortly after filing the return. If you do not hear from a Site Coordinator, please fill out this form or call us at 1-888-998-2925 to leave a message.
Please request a transcript of your tax return from the IRS at irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript. You can download your transcript directly from the IRS website, or they can mail it to you.
If you are unable to access your tax return transcript, you may come to one of our sites and pick up a copy if you filed the return through our program. Please fill out this form or contact us at 1-888-998-2925 to leave a message with your site coordinator for details. Be sure to include the site where the return was prepared. We are unable to provide copies of returns filed over 6 years ago (Ex.,It is tax season 2023. The latest copy that can be retrieved is from 2018) or from sites that are no longer in operation.
We will be happy to communicate this to the Site Coordinator. However, if you signed the return, we cannot guarantee that it has not been filed. Please fill out this form or contact us at 1-888-998-2925 to leave a message for your Site Coordinator.
If you were eligible for a refund on the return that was filed, you should wait until you receive the refund and then call us at 1-888-998-2925 to schedule an appointment for an amended return. Please do not spend your refund until you see how it will affect your return at the tax site.
If you owed a balance due on the return that was filed, you should wait for the return to post to your IRS Tax Account and then call us to schedule an appointment for an amended return.
The shared responsibility payment expired starting in tax year 2019. For tax years 2018 and prior, if you did not have health insurance, you may be subject to a penalty. Your employer may have given you a Form 1095 reporting health insurance coverage. Please bring your 1095 forms to your tax appointment.
If you need help enrolling in health insurance coverage, please visit healthcare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596. If you purchased insurance through the marketplace (healthcare.gov) at any time during the year, you should receive Form 1095-A. If you received a Form 1095-A, you are required to report it on your tax return.
Please bring a copy of your 2020 tax return with the Form 8915-E that was included on that return.
Taxpayers who met certain requirements could choose to spread the taxable amount of a 2020 COVID-related retirement withdrawal equally over their 2020, 2021, and 2022 returns. If you’re not sure you did this, check your 2020 tax return for a completed Form 8915-E. If you have one, you must report the same amount that was taxable on your 2020 return as taxable on your 2021 and 2022 returns.
We can prepare simple 1040 returns involving self-employment as long as:
Your total business expenses for the year were less than $50,000,
You made a net profit from your business, meaning your income was greater than your expenses,
You do not have any employees or contract laborers,
You do not have an inventory of merchandise,
You do not have any business assets that you would like to depreciate, and
You are not able to deduct expenses for the business use of your home
Yes, we can itemize your deductions.
Typical expenses that clients itemize include the following:
Home mortgage interest
Property taxes on home
Car tag tax
Unreimbursed medical expenses
Charitable contributions
These are the most common categories of itemized deductions. Please bring in all forms and receipts you think may be relevant to your tax return. Your tax preparer can talk to you about specific deductions for which you may qualify.
You can find your Adjusted Gross Income on the Form 1040 in the copy of your tax return.
2023: Form 1040, Line 11
2022: Form 1040, line 11
2021: Form 1040, line 11
2020: Form 1040, line 11
2019: Form 1040, line 8b
2018: Form 1040, line 7
If you do not have a copy of your tax return and you prepared your return at our site, please fill out this form or contact us at 1-888-998-2925 to leave a message with your site coordinator. You can also request a transcript of your tax return from the IRS at irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript. You can download your transcript directly from the IRS website, or they can mail it to you.
Before you schedule an appointment, please fill out this form or contact us at 1-888-998-2925 to leave a message with our Site Coordinator. If requested, we will directly coordinate with you or your representative to schedule an appointment that provides you with reasonable accommodations.
To participate in GetYourRefund.org, you will need:
A photo ID for yourself and your spouse, if Married Filing Jointly
A Social Security Card or acceptable replacement for every person on your tax return, including dependents
All the tax documents you would normally bring to an in-person appointment. See the complete list.
A smartphone or computer with Internet access
A smartphone or other device that can take photos and upload photos or scans to a website
The ability to communicate with your tax team via phone
A valid email address
If you have further questions about the online option, please see GetYourRefund’s FAQ page.
Appointments at our sites can fill quickly. Please consider our alternate options, SaveFirst Online and SaveFirst Self-Prep. If you cannot use those options and need an in-person volunteer tax site, please use the VITA/TCE Site Locator Tool at https://irs.treasury.gov/freetaxprep/.