Lifeline, Inc. Seeking Volunteers to Assist with Income Tax Assistance Program

December 1, 2016
PAINESVILLE, Ohio— Lifeline, Inc., Lake County’s Community Action Agency, is currently seeking volunteers to become certified tax preparers in order to assist low to moderate income households with tax preparation for the 2017 tax season. This program is offered in partnership with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) office in Cleveland, Ohio.

Lifeline, Inc. will provide free tax preparation to qualifying Lake County residents beginning in late January and continuing through April of 2017 using the IRS developed Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA). The program trains volunteers to prepare basic federal and state tax returns for working families, elderly, and individuals with disabilities.

Anyone can volunteer. No tax accounting experience is necessary, only a desire to help others in need. Volunteers participate in several training levels. Once certified, volunteers will be scheduled to assist with tax preparation January through April. Lifeline, Inc. will use computers to electronically prepare and transmit tax returns.

You can make a real difference in the lives of working families by helping them remain compliant with IRS regulations and filings and allowing them to take advantage of every tax benefit to which they are entitled. Because this program files tax returns electronically, it allows for fast refunds to the taxpayer.

This service also affords that tax dollars due the federal, state, and local governments are received by those governments in order to maintain and protect your communities.

For more information, please contact Tiffany Menosky, VITA Coordinator at Lifeline, Inc., at 440-354-2148 Ext. 231. Please contact Tiffany by Friday, December 30, 2016 if you are interested in volunteering for the VITA Program.

Lifeline for the Empowerment and Development of Consumers was founded in 1973 with the mission of helping Lake County residents by providing them assistance and life skills programming that is designed to increase self-sufficiency. In 1980 Lifeline became a participating agency of the United Way of Lake County, UWLC, and in 1987 was designated a community action agency by the Ohio Development Services Agency, ODSA. In 2008, Lifeline was designated as a mental health agency by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

Today Lifeline continues with the same mission of helping Lake County’s low-income residents break the cycle of poverty and make the transition from agency-dependency to self-sufficiency. Lifeline’s current programming includes services in the healthcare, housing & energy assistance, information & referral services and consumer education & job training areas. Our motto is ‘helping people, changing
lives.’ Lifeline is currently funded by the UWLC and by grants through the ODSA, the Lake County Board of Commissioners, the Lake County ADAMHS Board, Lake County Department of Job & Family Services, the City of Mentor, the Western Reserve Junior Service League and through private donors.