Earn It! Keep It! Save It!, United Way’s free tax preparation program, relies on 3,600 volunteers to ensure that people get the refunds they deserve – volunteers like Kristina Ng. When Kristina first walked into a tax site, she was nervous but prepared. She had no previous experience. However, she had received special training through Earn It! Keep It! Save It! and was now an IRS-certified tax preparer, ready to help demystify taxes for all her free-of-charge clients.

Kristina remembered one client who lived right upstairs from an Earn It! Keep It! Save It! site. The woman had seen the word, “free,” and decided to check it out.  She was afraid that she was going to owe money, but when the process was done, she was thrilled when Kristina told her she would be receiving close to a $3,000 refund.

“She was so happy which made me happy,” Kristina recalled. “It was a good feeling to be able to use my skills to lift people up, give them hope, and help them build a future.”

Kristina’s client got her refund because of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) which is a credit given to low-wage workers. It is often not claimed because people do not know about it, making free, reliable tax preparation all the more important for those struggling to get by. The EITC can be as high as about $6,000 which can mean the difference between paying rent or being homeless for a year.

Since its inception, Earn It! Keep It! Save It! has brought nearly $275 million in refunds, including almost $99 million in EITC credits, back to low-income residents in the Bay Area. According to Kristina, volunteering is an essential part of the equation:  “Volunteering provides a vital resource for people who don’t have money,” she said. “Unlike other tax preparation services that charge, we are volunteering, so we only have one thing in mind: doing good for the people who come in.”

Though tax season is a long way off for some, Earn It! Keep It! Save It! recruits volunteers all year long. So if you are interested in learning a new skill while providing a vital service for our community, go to www.earnitkeepitsaveit.org volunteer and sign up. Training will begin this fall.