It is that time of year again, tax season is upon us and the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) is back. 

It is offered by Cochrane Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) and provides eligible residents assistance with filing their 2022 income taxes. 

The program is a collaboration of FCSS and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and is meant to assist eligible low-income residents with a simple tax situation to file their annual income taxes. 

The service, which has been operating for at least 20 years, is made possible by CRA-trained volunteers who provide tax assistance and can help residents access government benefits. Kim Krawec, Manager of FCSS says, "The CRA provides training for all of our volunteers. We are incredibly fortunate that our volunteers have been around for a long time. We are actually recruiting two additional volunteers this year to help with the anticipated increase in numbers." Last year two volunteers logged 225 hours during the peak tax season.

Tracy Tilma, Coordinator of CVITP says, "Already we have at least 200 people signed up and we are only two weeks in." She is anticipating they will exceed the 613 returns that were filed last year through the program. To qualify, Tilma says, "They need to be a resident or at least in our catchment areas. We do service Morley and western Rocky View County and Cochrane residents." To access the program, a single person's income needs to be $35,000 or less a combined income of two people $45,000 or less and the number of dependents is a factor as well. 

The Community Volunteer Income Tax Program is offered through FCSS in 53 different communities and last year, 13,948 income tax returns were filed across the province.   

Tilma and Krawec both stress the importance of filing your tax returns because if you do not, then individuals and families are not able to access government benefits such as the Child Tax Benefit, GST Credit, or seniors benefits to name a few. 

The Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) is now open for appointments and will remain open until April 30, 2023. 

For more information and eligibility requirements call FCSS at 403-851-2250 or visit cochrane.ca/cvitprogram.