It\u2019s that time of year when taxes begin to be on peoples\u2019 minds. But the IRS is worried not enough people know about the Earned Income Tax Credit \u2013 which is the federal government\u2019s biggest anti-poverty program. So \u2013 they\u2019ve pronounced today Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day.<\/p>\n
Last year, more than 77,000 needy Granite Staters received a total of $140 million dollars through the EITC. But those numbers could be higher. Nationally, the IRS estimates that one in five people who are eligible don\u2019t know how to receive their money. And the sums are nothing to laugh at – some families can receive as much as $5,800.<\/p>\n
One problem, says New Hampshire Attorney Barbara Stewart, is that people make mistakes while filing an income tax return \u2013 even if they go to a professional. Another problem is that “people don\u2019t realize it\u2019s out there,” Stewart says. If your income is below a certain threshold, you aren’t required to file a tax return. So, many low income people “never get to the point of seeing a form or a question that would make them think Oh maybe I do qualify for this.”<\/p>\n
Find out who qualifies: The New Hampshire Bar Association’s Low-Income Taxpayer Project provides assistance for many tax problems at no charge: (603) 228 6028 (between 8:30am and 5:00pm).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s that time of year when taxes begin to be on peoples\u2019 minds. But the IRS is worried not enough people know about the Earned Income Tax Credit \u2013 which is the federal government\u2019s biggest anti-poverty program. So \u2013 they\u2019ve pronounced today Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day. Last year, more than 77,000 needy Granite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[54,51],"tags":[469,102],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13214,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13210\/revisions\/13214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>
\nOnline eligibility assistant
\n<\/a>
\nIf you earn under $50,000 you can get free in-person tax preparation assistance from VITA or the AARP. Call 211 or go to 211nh.org<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n