United Way of Connecticut hosted Senator Richard Blumenthal and highlighted their partnership with Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs to provide free tax preparation services to Connecticut residents.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, Lisa Tepper Bates, President & CEO, United Way of Connecticut.
Blumenthal led the press event on Tuesday to discuss the new letter he plans to submit to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging the Commission’s strong continued oversight of Intuit, Inc, the maker of the popular tax preparation software TurboTax.
The Senator called on the FTC to protect consumers from TurboTax’s excessive and deceptive fees, stating that TurboTax has long piled unfair fees unto consumers despite advertising that its products are “free” to use.
“They are falsely and deceptively luring taxpayers into their service and then promoting the services as free,” he said.
At the same time the Senator extolled the virtues of Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs in the state, funded by grants from the Internal Revenue Service, which offer free tax preparation services to eligible families annually earning $64,000 or less.
“United Way of Connecticut 211 (UWCT 211) has partnered for more than fifteen years with VITA coalitions across the state to help connect Connecticut residents to this important free tax preparation service,” said Lisa Tepper Bates, President and CEO of United Way of Connecticut.
This tax season there were close to sixty VITA tax preparation sites across the state. Connecticut residents can dial 2-1-1 to find a location near them, or they can search for a site on 211ct.org.
UWCT 211 maintains a current directory of community resources in their database that lists the VITA sites available in any given tax season. UWCT 211 scheduled 9,700 appointments for callers over the phone and through their self-service portal on the 211ct.org website this past tax year, saving residents from having to make yet another phone call or visit yet another website.
Juan Berrios, Executive Director of SimplifyCT, one of the state’s VITA coalition members, noted that “VITA programs in Connecticut helped file a collective 35,568 tax returns this year, which resulted in about $47 million in tax refunds for CT residents!” Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS) and The Village for Families and Children also participated in the event, representing the state’s other VITA programs.
And while this year’s tax season has come to a close, VITA sites statewide are still working with residents to claim their unclaimed federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and federal Child Tax Credit (CTC) benefits, which include the temporarily enhanced tax benefits from tax year 2021. These benefits can provide critically important income support to eligible families.
In fact, since 2019, CT residents have forgone nearly $180 million in unclaimed federal EITC and CTC benefits ($129 million EITC and $50 million CTC). Connecticut residents can claim these tax benefits by filing their taxes with the help of a VITA site.
It is important to note that while many people filed their taxes by April 15, it’s not too late to file for these benefits – including enhanced tax credits that were made available to eligible filers during the COVID pandemic. Filers have until the end of December 2025 to claim these tax benefits that are rightfully theirs and can – for some families – provide thousands of dollars in needed income. VITA is here to help.
Visit 211ct.org to find the VITA site nearest you to see if you are eligible.