During the 2017 tax season, Adams State University partnered with the Denver-based Piton Foundation to provide free tax preparation assistance to low- to moderate-income families through the Tax Help Colorado program. At ASU’s free tax site, IRS-certified students filed 675 returns, helping local taxpayers claim $1,132,310 in federal and state refunds.
This year, 60 students from ASU spent countless hours preparing and filing returns for individuals with household incomes of less than $54,000, helping to alleviate the burden of commercial tax preparation costs on low-wage earners.
Many of the taxpayers who visit the university’s free tax site are eligible for tax benefits for working families with children such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). One of the nation’s most successful anti-poverty tools, the EITC promotes employment while providing valuable refunds to minimum-wage earners who oftentimes struggle to make ends meet for their families. Low- to moderate-income workers can also claim a state EITC, which is 10% of the federal EITC. At Adams State University, working families claimed $375,619 in EITC refunds this year.
In 2017, 20 colleges and three high schools participated in Tax Help Colorado. Overall, more than 7,849 individuals received free tax preparation services. Tax Help Colorado helped families claim more than $14.4 million in tax refunds in 2017, including over $4.5 million from the EITC. The program helped save low-income Coloradans more than $1.9 million in commercial tax preparation costs.
About The Piton Foundation
The Piton Foundation, which is part of Gary Community Investments, is a private, operating foundation established in 1976 by Denver oilman Sam Gary. It is committed to improving the lives of Colorado’s low-income children and their families by increasing access to quality early childhood and youth development opportunities and fostering healthy family and community environments. In addition to investing in creative solutions for Colorado’s low-income children and their families, Piton operates its own programs, including the Data Initiative, Tax Help Colorado, and the nation’s largest and longest-running Earned Income Tax Credit public information campaign.
