For nearly seven years, residents seeking free income tax preparation services have come to a friendly place. The Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, 5515 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, is seeking to electronically file more than 2,000 federal and state income tax returns free of charge as a service to the overall community.
Residents can get free income tax assistance from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays through April 9 at its Youth Worship center, 5544 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.
“It really started out as an Internal Revenue Service outreach program,” said Desmond Leong, an IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) director and trainer.
After nearly a decade, Leong, a Friendly Temple member, decided that the service involved more than free income tax assistance and helped it to become a meaningful ministry.
“I started looking at it as a ministry. It went beyond the IRS VITA program,” Leong said. “We began to minister to some of the residents’ spirits as well as take care of their tax and financial needs.”
Leong said he is working diligently at spreading his tax ministry to area churches and senior citizen complexes.
Leong said several area churches, including some in East St. Louis, have approached him about starting a tax ministry.
“We have developed sites at other churches to operate free tax preparation. We added a senior location at the Latter Glory Apartments, a church at New City Fellowship and a fraternity at the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity House on Goodfellow,” Leong said.
The Temple prepares taxes as well as at Friendly Temple Senior Village, Gillespie Village at Cote Brilliante Presbyterian Church, Samuel Jones Apartments at Park and Compton streets and Homer Phillips Apartments, 2601 Whittier St.
There are more than 4,000 free tax preparation sites in the country, Leong said.
To put the free tax preparation service into context nationally, Leong said, this is the third-largest return preparer group behind H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt. H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt preparers charge a fee for their service.
Leong wants to provide residents with information that may land them more money on their income tax returns.
“I want people to know we may be able to answer questions on deductions and special credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit,” Leong said.
“I want them to know that if the earned income is less than $35,458 with two children, they (taxpayers) may be eligible for earned income credit. This amount is reduced if there are less than two children,” Leong said.
“The IRS administers and support the VITA program by providing software and, in some cases, computers and printers,” Leong said.
Leong said they also partnered with US Bank to open checking accounts for Friendly Tax Ministry customers.
“The focus is to shift people away from predatory entities such as cash checking exchanges,” Leong said.
“Biblically, the focus is to encourage the community to be good stewards of their assets.”
Ruthie Clark, a Friendly Temple member and volunteer tax preparer, works closely with Leong in developing the tax ministry. She has been preparing tax returns for church members for 20 years.
“I believe it helps our community. The program has been a tremendous blessing for me and to all those seeking free income tax service,” said Clark, who also is a professional accountant.
“I have been preparing tax returns for three years every Saturday. It is my way of giving back to those in my community and throughout the St. Louis area,” Clark said.
Free tax assistance is also available Saturday, Feb. 19 and 26 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Omega Center, 3900 Goodfellow Blvd., courtesy of VITA. Contact DeMarkus Calhoun at (636) 940-6338.
For all tax preparation, you should bring:
*this year’s tax package and/or label
*all forms, W-2 and 1099s
*information regarding other income
*information for all deductions/ credits
*a copy of last year’s return.
For the most up-to-date information and tax products, visit www.irs.gov.
