Free Tax Preparation sites now open for appointments
PITTSBURGH (Jan 28. 2025) – United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Free Tax Prep Coalition is now scheduling in-person appointments at sites in Allegheny, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties. Tax sites are open through mid-April with morning, afternoon and evening appointments available. Visit UnitedWaySWPA.org/free-tax-prep or call 211, United Way’s resource helpline, to schedule an appointment.
Individuals earning up to $50,000 and households earning up to $70,000 qualify for Free Tax Prep service. Taxpayers earning up to $89,000 may also complete their returns from home using United Way’s free and secure online tax software, MyFreeTaxes.
During the 2024 tax year, 350 Free Tax Prep Coalition volunteers prepared 9,257 tax returns in-person and via MyFreeTaxes, generating a total of $12.2 million in refunds and saving clients an estimated $2.5 million in tax prep fees. Of these households, 20% have a household member with a disability, half have adjusted gross incomes under $25,000 and 27% qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which supports working adults. Since United Way began leading the coalition in 2009, volunteers have prepared nearly 130,000 returns, generating a total of $212 million in refunds and saving clients an estimated $29 million in tax prep fees.
About the Free Tax Preparation Coalition: United Way’s Free Tax Prep Coalition is led in partnership with Just Harvest and compromised of 12 organizations providing free tax preparation services to taxpayers across five counties. Every year, United Way receives funding from the IRS’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which it distributes to partners through a request for proposal process. Just Harvest leads training for hundreds of local volunteers, who serve taxpayers at 24 tax-site locations. Volunteers save clients tax preparation fees and are trained to maximize the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credits, which can total 50% of a household’s annual income. New in Tax Year 2025, taxpayers who claim the federal EITC also automatically qualify for the Pennsylvania Working Families Tax Credit, a new state credit equaling 10% of the federal credit and included in the 2025-26 Pennsylvania budget.