Helping families work toward financial stability by providing free tax assistance.
United Way’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program offers free in-person tax preparation for families and individuals with income of $60,000 or less. Tax prep sites are located throughout the Greater Richmond and Petersburg region.
Our work is made possible with the support of the Internal Revenue Service VITA Grant and Virginia Community Action Partnership.
Virtual Tax Help
In addition to in-person services, we also now offer Virtual VITA Online Tax Filing Assistance. Our program offers a 100% online tax preparation from the comfort and security of home. This service requires that filers have access to the internet and a camera through a smart phone or a tablet.
Virtual VITA is run through GetYourRefund. GetYourRefund is a non-profit service built by Code for America in partnership with IRS-certified Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites nationally. Code for America is a non-profit technology organization dedicated to making government work for the people that need it most. This portal meets all IRS security standards and your information will be as secure as if you were visiting one of our in-person tax sites.
- All Virginia Residents can go to GetYourRefund to opt in to the service.
- Answer questions. We’ll ask you to verify your identity as well as a series of questions about your finances.
- Submit documents. Share all necessary documents (ID, W-2’s, 1099, 1095-A,B,C).
- Phone review. We will review everything with you over the phone.
- Get your refund. If you choose to file your taxes, our tax volunteers will help you e-file.
This program is available to any taxpayer:
- With a valid email address and phone number.
- With an income below $60,000.
- With a current SSN or ITIN.
- Please note that all customers are required to provide us with a valid government-issued ID for each taxpayer, social security card/ITIN paperwork for all individuals listed on the tax return, and all tax documents.
If you earn $73,000 or less annually, you qualify to receive free coaching from an IRS-certified volunteer to help you successfully file your tax return. For more information on this service, contact tax@yourunitedway.org.
Become a Vita Volunteer
No prior knowledge or experience is necessary to become a VITA volunteer. We have several roles available to match a variety of skills and interests. Watch a video created by the Get It Back Campaign to show you what being a volunteer will be like.
United Way’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program is looking for volunteers to support select in-person tax sites as well as a virtual tax assistance service. Individuals are asked to serve one volunteer shift per week when the season opens in late January 2024.
$2.7 Million in total federal refunds for families in our region – 2022 Tax Season Results
From over 2,810 returns filed
“They had people that were there to assist me – fill out any documents I needed to fill out, all I had to do was sign them. That meant a lot to me because it felt like I was being accommodated.”
Ms. Randall, VITA program client since 2016
Ms. Randall had one of the 2,256 tax returns that the VITA program helped file in 2022.
Have questions or running into problems?
These are unprecedented times we are in and this is an evolving program not only for you, but for us too. We appreciate your patience while we begin new initiatives like our this virtual assistance process. Learning about any problems that pop up will help us better serve individuals who come after you. We welcome any questions you may have. Please reach out for assistance at any time.