Oregon starts processing 2025 income tax returns on Monday. But filing tax returns can be troublesome for a lot of people, especially now, considering recent cuts to several free tax preparation systems.
About 15% of Oregonians don’t file every year, generally because they’re worried about a big tax bill or intimidated by the long, complicated forms. But those people often miss out on significant refunds, and there are several nonprofits anxious to help people file.
Hilario Gonzalez immigrated from Colombia a couple of years ago. While waiting for asylum, the 33-year-old is going to school and cleaning hotel rooms in Portland.
But that means reportable income and a tax return, complicated propositions for even those who speak English proficiently. Gonzalez isn’t fluent yet, so he sought help from the Multnomah Family Services program CASHOregon, one of the nonprofits that helps people file taxes.
“The plan is to be able to comply with all the rules and regulations regarding tax payments,” Gonzalez said through an interpreter. “And make sure that I’m doing it the right way.”
And while doing things the right way, he got a $1,700 refund.
“It was really, really good for me,” he grinned. “And if I get a refund this year, I’ll use it to buy a new computer for school.”
His employer had deducted too much, and Gonzalez qualified for the earned income tax credit.
“The earned income tax credit is one of the strongest anti-poverty tools we have in the United States,” said the director of CASHOregon, Riley Eldredge. “Nobody thinks of them that way. But they’re embedded within the tax code.”
Eldredge says only about 78% of the Oregonians who are eligible for the credit end up claiming it, largely because they don’t file.
“They’re scared of the process,” Eldredge explained. “They’re intimidated by it … It’s a subject that’s not very well understood.”
CASHOregon has trained 360 volunteers for this tax season, and the nonprofit is just one of a dozen such Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, programs in Oregon.
“We helped almost 10,000 families file last year. They got about $14 million in refunds,” Eldredge said. “These are households that make on average $28,000 a year. This is rent payments. This is transportation, this is food on the table.”
Eldredge said often CASHOregon doesn’t just reduce people’s tax burden; the group can often find them a refund check. As an example, he talked about a married couple with two kids, making about $20,000 a year.
“With the earned income tax credit alone, this could be up to $6000,” he said. “And we’re not even talking about the child tax credit and other credits that could be behind that.”
Once families understand that failing to file a tax return often leaves money unclaimed, they start asking for help.
While there are hundreds of VITA programs across the country, appointments get booked up quickly. On top of that, the Trump administration last year ended a free e-filing program, and some VITA programs have seen deep cuts.
CASHOregon lost 30% of its staff last year because of state cuts.
As a result, VITA programs are desperately looking for volunteers to help people file taxes.
“If you like puzzles, you’re very likely going to like tax preparation,” said Eldredge.
People who volunteer include certified public accountants who want to help, credit union staff, accounting students in need of experience, and people who’ve received help from VITA programs in the past.
That’s what happened to Pradeep Gurunathan.
He’s a research scientist for Intel now. But he came to the U.S. 14 years ago as a student. As soon as he secured a couple of paid internships, he had to start filing tax returns.
“I was kind of thrown into the deep end,” he said, “not knowing anything about the tax code in this country.”
A woman from his university helped him file, and he never forgot her kindness.
“I thanked her, but I also wanted to pay it forward,” he said. “So I decided that I would get into helping people with their taxes, just like she did.”
With his expertise in non-resident taxes, Gurunathan is now an invaluable volunteer at CASHOregon. And VITA programs across Oregon are looking for more volunteers like him.
But helping people file their taxes is not easy. Training takes about 40 hours. There’s a certification exam and a background check. After all, nobody wants an identity thief rooting through their financial information.
But Gurunathan said the reward is the work itself. He remembers an autistic woman who wore sunglasses and headphones to reduce the office clatter. He brought her to a quiet corner to help her file her return, and afterward she handed him a note that he said still makes him smile from ear to ear.
“It said, ‘Each of us bears the imprint of a friend met along the way. In each, the trace of each. For good or evil, in wisdom or in folly. Everyone stamped by everyone. Thank you.’”
The number of people who file tax returns in Oregon is expected to be high this year. That’s mainly because those who don’t file will miss out on their share of Oregon’s $1.4 billion kicker refund.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
