Real Sense tax help from the United Way

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It's tax time and there's a program in town that could help you file yours for free.
The United Way kicked off its Real Sense free tax prep assistance at Potter's House off of Lenox Avenue.
It will be available until April 18th.

It's a way to help families complete their taxes and get the money they've earned without spending a dime. It's all a part of United Way's mission to help families achieve financial stability. It's more than just free tax prep, the volunteers also give participants financial education service information for Northeast Florida residents with an annual salary household income of $62,000 or less. Volunteers say tax time can be stressful for people who aren't sure they are filing correctly. With their expertise they can relieve that stress.

"People are in school, we focus on the academics, but these type of life skills are so very important because no matter what your career you're going to have to manage a budget and your household, say, for the future," said Jennifer King, of The United Way.

Last year United Way helped more than 20,000 people file their taxes and saved people a total of $4.5 million in tax-preparer fees.

"We hear so many stories about how this made the difference, this was just the lift the people needed in order to get back on track, to have a lump sum to help them pay down debt or pay off credit cards or just have something behind them as an emergency fund," King said.

We spoke to a woman getting her taxes done who has a success story all because of guidance from these services.

"Keeps you from going and paying people to do your taxes. It's a self-sufficient program that helps you to learn how to rebuild your current credit manager tax dollars from year to year," Barbara Fleming said.

With financial help Fleming and her family were able to move out of low-income apartments into her own home.

"It's wonderful, it's exciting, it teaches you a lot of advantages, it sets you up for the next time where you were trying to be," King said.