By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — With the extension of the federal and state tax deadlines, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site in Hutchinson is also extending its availability.
"The IRS extended their season to May 17," said Sue Wegerle with VITA. "We have extended our site season until the 29th of April. We'll be there two extra weeks beyond what we generally would be."
Wegerle also noted that if you had a low level of unemployment income and got your taxes done early in the season, you might need to give them a second look.
"The VITA site helps people who have incomes less than $57,000 a year," Wegerle said. "We also can file for non-filers who did not get their stimulus payments. We can file for them. This year, there was a new law passed March 11th which excludes from income the first $10,200 of unemployment income, which generally would be taxed."
If you have unemployment income at that level and you had your taxes done before St. Patrick's Day, you want to check with your tax preparer to see if your return needs to be amended.
"Ordinarily, once you've finished with your taxes, you take them home," Wegerle said. "Some people file them in a file and you don't think about them any more. You may be entitled to a refund if you had unemployment income. We have had quite a few people that have had unemployment income. Some of those people we caught in time to wait until the software was updated, but there were some people before the change that we didn't know anything about. It's highly unusual, I think, to change the tax law in the middle of the tax season."
The VITA site remains available at the Salvation Army at 700 North Walnut on Tuesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The last day of VITA preparation for this tax season will be Thursday, April 29.