Houston ABC: Taxes for Hurricane Survivors
March, 2006
When Hurricane Katrina hit in late August, it greatly affected the lives of several hundred thousand people. Many were forced to move from their homes into surrounding areas. Houston, Texas, was a major relocation spot for some 200,000 Hurricane Katrina survivors. The federal government responded to this unprecedented disaster with the Hurricane Katrina Tax Emergency Relief Act. Unfortunately, this Act makes filing taxes more complicated. Luckily, there are organizations such as Houston Asset Building Coalition, who are currently working on a set of programs that will help bring tax aid to those individuals in need of free tax preparation.
Houston ABC prepared 6,000 tax returns in 2004 and 7,000 tax returns in 2005. Houston ABC also currently has 30 VITA site locations. Because of the high volume of hurricane evacuees which the Houston area has experienced, it is difficult to project how many returns Houston ABC will complete in 2006, but it plans on processing as many returns as possible. Over the next 2 years, Houston ABC plans on targeting Harris County, an area that is currently victim to a high amount of unclaimed EITC. Though the coalition has no intentions of opening more sites, it plans on relocating and consolidating its present sites. The coalition performed this operation on 4 sites this year, and were quite successful. “We merged 2 sites and relocated 2 more sites with the result that so far this season those sites are completing more returns more efficiently than was possible last year,” says Anne Perez of Houston ABC.
Houston ABC provides free tax preparation to individuals with income lower than $38,000. Due to the increase in demand for free tax preparation from hurricane evacuees, Houston ABC will now offer services to those individuals who were affected by Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Despite the alarmingly large numbers, Houston ABC estimates that only about 10 percent of hurricane evacuees are in need of a casualty (property) loss return. To determine if an individual needs a casualty loss return, Houston ABC helped distribute the IRS “disaster kit” which consists of a set of forms that help individuals determine casualty losses.
Due to the high number of displaced taxpayers now in the Houston area, it will be important that Houston ABC has more volunteers to help meet its goals. Houston ABC has recruited about 400 volunteers this tax season, double the number from last year. Anne Perez says: “We have a core group of dedicated volunteers; some of them have been doing taxes for VITA programs for 10, 15, 20, or 25 years. One volunteer is 2 years away from having done taxes for free for 50 years! Our volunteers are fantastic. As we have made changes to the program, and as the program has transitioned from being an IRS project to being mostly managed by Houston ABC, our volunteers have not abandoned us, but have rolled with the changes. They are the backbone of our program and we could not have done over 7,000 returns last year without them.”
Houston ABC recently held its 4th Annual Free Tax Preparation Day. At this event, Houston ABC featured a separate room for individuals in need of Disaster Assistance. It received assistance from the IRS and Houston CPAs to help with the demands of the event. On March 4th, 2006, Houston ABC will be partnering with the IRS to focus on hurricane evacuees at a one-day event at Westbury High School, with help from Houston Independent School District. The IRS will be using its street team to help promote the event. The coalition will be receiving volunteers from Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and possibly Dallas. Houston ABC will be working closely with Foundation Communities, The United Way of Texas Gulf Coast, The United Way of Texas, The United Way of San Antonio, and the IRS to help gather volunteers for this event.
