BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — For most people in the country, federal tax season ends on April 18 this year. Following severe rain and flooding early in the year, residents of Kern County are among those who have been granted a filing extension by the Internal Revenue Service to October 16.
With that extension, volunteers at the Community Action Partnership of Kern are staying ready to help residents file their taxes at the CAP-K Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) office located at 300 19th Street in Downtown Bakersfield.
Bakersfield resident Donovan White has taken advantage of the VITA service.
"Always feels good. You want to make sure those things are out of the way so as not to worry about it for the rest of the whole year until next year," said White. "It's just a relief."
White says he knew about the October 16 extension, but he wanted to get his taxes out of the way. According to White, the whole process took about 20 minutes.
"They also give you a lot of good feedback and they support everybody here in the community. It doesn't matter who you are," said White. "They take any and everyone."
VITA targets low and middle-income families and offers basic tax preparation services free of charge.
Program Manager Jacquelyn Guerra says the program has already filed more than 4,400 tax returns this year, adding up to $3.5 million dollars in tax refunds for their clients. Guerra says they're expecting even more people now with the extended deadline.
"It's important because we promote and educate about tax credits. There's a lot of credits that people don't necessarily file because they think 'I haven't hit the requirement to,' but you're missing out on earned income if you worked that year," said Guerra. "We also educate on the correct tax withholding so you can avoid paying, and to top it off, it's a free program."
Guerra says that because CAP-K's VITA program doesn't charge a fee, the community can trust them to help. VITA can even assist filers in completing tax forms going back as far as 2018, which will let residents recover stimulus payments from 2020 and 2021, as well as make corrections to their returns for 2022.
The extension makes a difference in the process for residents, according to Guerra.
"Well, I think they can kind of breathe right now. I know a lot of people are calling concerned trying to get in last minute, frustrated if we don't have appointments," said Guerra, "but the good news is we're here year-round."
According to Guerra, VITA will hold monthly popups in Wasco, McFarland, and Taft throughout the year in order to help more residents in rural communities, as well as to get everyone's taxes filed by the October deadline.
Donovan White says this is the third year he's filed his tax return with CAP-K's VITA program and he plans to come back next year.
"They're very gracious, very kind, and they do educate you a lot. I've been doing taxes for years, but they always tell me something new to learn," said White.
The IRS extension for Kern County residents on filing their federal tax returns is automatically granted by the IRS. Residents already have it and don't need to apply or qualify. Kern County residents are encouraged to contact CAP-K and make an appointment to file their taxes via the VITA program at the VITA website.
