SALISBURY — AARP Foundation Tax-Aide and the IRS are offering free income tax preparation service for elderly and low to middle income taxpayers at the Rufty-Holmes Senior Center.

Volunteer tax counselors offer one-on-one assistance for federal and North Carolina tax returns, which will be electronically filed. This eliminates the need to mail the returns and results in faster receipt of any refunds.

The service is available from Feb. 1 through April 14 at the senior center, 1120 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. S. Taxpayers seeking assistance must make an appointment by calling 704-216-7714.

Due to COVID, volunteers need to know your vaccination status and unvaccinated or ill individuals can’t be served inside the senior center. If you can show proof of vaccination, your appointment will be inside and if you are unvaccinated, your appointment will be outside at the picnic tables behind the senior center. Most of our taxpayers and volunteers are over the age of 60 and this requirement is to protect everyone’s health.

Due to COVID restrictions, there a four-step process.

• Call the center to make an appointment to drop off all your tax information and a second to come back two days later to review tax returns and pick up all your tax documents.

• Once you have an appointment, you will need a tax package. It must be completely filled out before you come for your
appointment due to limited space for sitting at the senior center.

• On the day of your first appointment, you will bring your tax documents and forms and go through the intake process. All forms in the tax package must be filled out ahead of time. Your documents will be left with a volunteer tax preparer.

• On the day of your second appointment, you will come to the senior center and have a certified tax volunteer review your tax return with you and answer your questions before your tax return is e-filed. You will receive a copy of your completed tax return.

Those seeking assistance need to bring social security cards for everyone listed on your tax return, picture IDs for each taxpayer, proof of vaccination if you have an inside appointment and all tax-related materials including W2s, 1099Rs, social security statements, other income statements, stock sales, charitable contributions, real estate taxes paid along with 2019 and 2020 federal and North Carolina tax returns.

You can pick up a tax information packet under the carport at the senior center in a box just to the left of the front door.

You can also download the information by going to either  ruftyholmes.org/tax-aide/ or Salisbury AARP’s Tax-Aide  site at taxvolunteers.com/SalisburyAARPTax.