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Taxes

IRS: Applications For TCE and VITA Grants Can Be Submitted Through End of May

The funding helps organizations provide free tax assistance to elderly and low-income taxpayers for up to three years.

The IRS is now accepting applications for the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) grant programs, the agency said.

Grants for the two programs will be accepted beginning today through May 31. The programs allow eligible organizations to apply for annual funding to provide free federal tax return preparation assistance to elderly and low-income taxpayers for up to three years.

In the past year, the IRS said it awarded 45 TCE grantees $11 million and 300 VITA grantees $40 million. Last year, grant recipients from the two programs helped taxpayers file more than 2.1 million tax returns nationwide.

The IRS established the TCE program in 1978 to provide tax counseling and return preparation to persons that are generally 60 years of age or older.

The VITA grant program was established in 2007 to supplement the VITA program created in 1969. The grant program enables VITA to provide free tax-fling services to underserved populations in the hardest-to-reach urban and non-urban areas to increase the ability of targeted taxpayers to file returns electronically, to enhance training of volunteers, and to improve the accuracy rate of returns prepared at VITA sites, the IRS said.

For more information, visit the IRS VITA and TCE grants webpage on IRS.gov.