AARP Tax-Aide at Centro: Another Successful Season

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For more than 10 years, Centro San Juan Diego has partnered with the AARP Tax-Aide Foundation to provide free tax preparation services to mid- to low-income individuals and families.

Each year, Centro San Juan Diego and AARP recruit qualified bilingual volunteers to attend the AARP certification training, where they learn about tax preparation best practices and review important changes to the tax code. While there is no cost to attend the training or earn the IRS certification, volunteers are required to give time back to their community in the form of free tax preparation services.

For nine Saturdays from February to April of this year, 22 volunteers worked diligently to prepare 397 tax returns, resulting in $396,085 in total refunds for the community. More than 80% of the total clients served this year were Hispanic/Latino.

"The Centro San Juan Diego site is unique because it is primarily set up to help Spanish speakers with their tax returns, and has counselors who can also provide the service in English," said Dave Martz, a Tax-Aide district coordinator who has overseen the operations Centro's Tax-Aide site since its inception. Martz said it is so important to highlight this distinction because "most other sites are the reverse, focused on helping English-speakers and may happen to have someone who speaks Spanish."

Centro San Juan Diego is proud to serve this role in the community and make necessary tax preparation services more accessible for all.

Thanks you to all the volunteers and staff who made this tax season a great success!