March 25, 2020
As the country struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic, in an effort to continue to provide vital services to Connecticut’s low-income, elderly, unemployed, or self employed families, Connecticut nonprofit organizations have rallied to expand the existing free Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) services into an entirely online platform.
In previous years, the VITA tax professionals conducted in-person sessions in places like the Darien Library, the Danbury Library, the Westport Community Center, and dozens of locations across Connecticut. Families in need of financial assistance simply brought their tax papers with them and the IRS certified tax professionals could complete their filings on-site and in person.
Due to the COVID-19 shutdowns, this type of face-to-face encounter is no longer available, and as a result, a new online-only platform has been developed to continue to provide this critical service. The new socially distant online service consists of confidential and secure intake portals where CT families can upload their tax documents, and an IRS certified tax professional will contact them to complete the filing. This important service gets much-needed tax refund and tax credit cash to the families as quickly as possible.
In addition, many families may also qualify for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits, which can bring up to $20,000 in total benefits to each family.
For those Connecticut residents who have not filed a 2019 tax return or have not filed a return for several years, or who have become unemployed due to the shutdown but have not yet filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, you should contact VirtualVITA to learn if you are eligible and register for the organization’s free assistance program.
The tax filing deadline is July 15, 2020, so we are urging any CT resident who has not yet registered for these programs to act quickly. The deadline for applying for Federal CARES stimulus funds is October 15, 2020.
“Many Connecticut families deeply affected by the COVID-19 crisis are unfortunately not receiving the financial support they are entitled to by the CARES stimulus, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or other government programs,” Governor Lamont said. “I applaud the work that VITA is doing to get our citizens the financial help they need and deserve, and our state is committed to supporting the efforts of this important organization to connect with and assist eligible Connecticut residents.”
If you have any questions about our program, please contact us to learn more.