Ana says the location of Foundation Communities’ Prosper Center North is very convenient for her. But, that’s not the real reason why she has been going there for the past five years to complete and file her tax return.
“Filing your taxes sometimes is scary because you don’t know what you’re doing. You want to do the right thing. So, it’s better to come to someone that can guide you and show you what you need to be doing step by step,” said Ana. “They are very friendly and very organized. They’ll tell you what you’ll be needing. So, that’s why I like to come up here.”
Ana also says the staff and volunteers are very thorough and they double-check everything. She says the service was especially helpful during the pandemic, when she wasn’t able to work. Our IRS-certified tax preparers helped her not only receive a tax refund to help with mortgage payments and household expenses. She also received the Advance Child Tax Credits and the Earned Income Tax Credits, money they saved for emergencies and for their daughter’s future college expenses.
Ana believes the Tax Help program is especially helpful to Latino and African-American taxpayers in Central Texas because it’s free and there’s always bilingual staff available to help if necessary. Even with that, we hear from some taxpayers that they prefer to pay for tax preparation services, thinking that will somehow help them get a bigger refund. Ana doesn’t agree with that thinking.
“The benefit to coming up here is you’ve got people who are doing their job the right way,” said Ana. “They’re honest, they’re telling you this is what’s going to be best for you, versus going somewhere else where they’re telling you, no, you don’t have to report that, so you can get 100 bucks. At the end of the day, you’re the one who’s going to be in trouble with the IRS because you’re not being honest.”
In this video, Ana talks about why she keeps returning to Prosper Center North for tax preparation.
The Prosper Tax Help program will be open seven-days-a-week through Tax Day, April 18, 2023 at five community locations in Austin & Round Rock.