VITA Archives - Center for Family Life

March: Tax Season

March 31, 2025

by Nicolette Natale Economic Well-being Programs News and Events

For over twenty years, Center for Family Life has been providing free tax-filing assistance to our neighbors in Sunset Park via the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, and our usually busy tax season hasn’t shown any signs of slowing!

As a VITA site, CFL has certified volunteer and staff tax preparers on hand to assist those who are eligible for VITA in filing their taxes.

Juan Obando, CFL’s VITA Tax Manager, conducts extensive outreach each year to recruit volunteer tax preparers. In addition to recruiting via NYC Service and NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Juan and his tax team have successfully secured partnerships with Fordham University, Kingsborough Community College, NY Cares, and Royal Business Bank to solicit volunteers. All volunteers receive thorough tax-preparation trainings and must acquire their official IRS Tax Certification before working as tax preparers.

This year, we’ve been lucky to have fifty-seven tax preparers support us in filing nearly three thousand returns, yielding over four million dollars in refunds! Thank you to all our CFL staff and volunteers who help make this program possible. The funds our neighbors receive in returns can be crucial for them to make rent, pay bills, or buy groceries.

Indeed, Juan has emphasized it is the ability to “help someone get the most money in a year, and hearing [our clients’] stories” which has been the most meaningful to him in his two decades of providing tax-free filing assistance professionally.

If you qualify for free tax preparation, we encourage you to make an appointment with us. More information on eligibility and appointments is outlined below.

Alternatively, if you have the means and are able to support our tax-filing assistance program, please consider donating to Center for Family Life today.

Interested in making an appointment?

In 2024, if your income was up to $65,000 as an individual — or up to $93,000 as a family — you are eligible for free tax filing services.

Appointments are available at CFL’s main office from 11am to 7pm on Mondays through Fridays, as well as on Saturdays from 9am to 4pm.

An appointment can also be made at our partner NYU Langone location — which is located on Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park — on Tuesdays through Thursdays between 12pm and 7pm.

Make an appointment with us today at either Center for Family Life’s main office or at our NYU Langone location.

Filing and Self-Employed?

If you work for yourself as a freelancer, gig worker, or small business owner, you need to file taxes annually and make estimated payments quarterly.

Our tax preparers through our Self-Employed Tax Program (SETP) are here to help; book an appointment with someone from our team today.

February: Taxes

February 28, 2024

by Kathleen Lion Economic Well-being Programs News and Events

Here at Center for Family Life, we continue our decades-long commitment to providing professional VITA tax filing services to thousands of clients in our community and beyond! These services, which are generously funded by the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and NYU Langone, are crucial for the low-income families that we serve. Certified tax preparers guide clients through the complicated tax filing process, alleviating the stress associated with filing and ensuring that all filers get their full refund. The returns that families receive from filing their taxes have a huge impact on the household resources available to families to meet basic needs and have a significant positive economic benefit to our community as a whole. We are proud that last year our VITA Tax Filing Program helped file over 3,720 returns, yielding a total refund amount of $4,406,719!

This year we are excited to offer free VITA tax filing services at two sites in Brooklyn! Appointments are available five days per week at our main office and three days per week at the NYU Langone, Brooklyn Family Support Center, our community partners. Those that qualify for our services include single filers with incomes of $59,000 or less in 2023 as well as families with incomes of $85,000 or less in 2023. We make the process as easy and efficient as possible to save our clients time and money!

A Client Story:

Sophia (named changed to protect her confidentiality) traveled to Sunset Park for our free tax prep services for the first time this year. She has often paid over $150 in fees to prepare her taxes, but decided to make an appointment at CFL after learning about the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection’s Free Tax Prep Program from a co-worker. Sophia was so grateful to receive free tax filing assistance from a trusted and certified filer, allowing her to put the money she would have spent on tax filing assistance into her savings and towards a greater financial goal.

A Reflection from a Volunteer:

“I would like to acknowledge the herculean efforts of Victor, from the CFL tax program. He is patient and professional in his dealings with me. What a pro! Most importantly, he cares about the clients. Last Thursday, he graciously handled a multi-year return for an older adult who at times seemed confused. Yesterday, he helped a head-of-house mother who is also a graduate student. Thanks to his hard work, this person may receive an impressive return. It’s a joy coming to the office and working with your staff. They care about the clients and selflessly help them.”

In addition to our VITA Tax Prep Program, we also have a Self-Employed Tax Prep Program (SETP) which offers year-round service for small business owners, gig workers and freelancers. Through this program, we offer free resources including specialized tax prep, workshops and group sessions, one-on-one consultations, toolkits and more! Appointments are available five days per week at our main office and are completely free of charge. These services are essential as self-employed individuals often struggle to keep financial records and file their taxes accurately and on time.

Our VITA and SETP tax teams work hard each day to ensure that individuals in our community are aware of the services that we offer and that they receive the best care possible when working with our staff. We are incredibly grateful to DCWP, the IRS and NYU Langone for funding these programs and are so glad that we can help bring financial resources back to our community!

New York City tax team hold "free tax prep" sign.

February: Tax Season!

February 23, 2023

by Kathleen Lion Economic Well-being Programs News and Events

Center for Family Life in Sunset Park continues to assist eligible clients to file their taxes, alleviating the stress that so many of our clients experience when preparing tax filings and ensuring that millions of tax dollars are distributed back to our community! The returns and credits individuals receive after filing their taxes have a huge impact on the household resources available to the many low-income families who visit our tax site. We are proud that last year our team helped 2,688 people file their taxes, yielding close to $4.4 million in refunds. We hope to assist more clients this tax season and bring about a larger return to help stimulate our community economy!

Our free drop-off tax filing services are available to clients five days a week through April 18th. Those that qualify for our services include single filers with incomes of $56,000 or less in 2022 as well as families with incomes of $80,000 or less in 2022. Our services are made easy. Clients simply gather their documents, drop them off during their prescheduled appointment and pick up the completed return later! If they have questions at any point in the process, our staff is here to help!

CFLSP has received several letters in the mail from clients thanking our tax team for being friendly, helpful and available to support them through the filing process. We are grateful to receive such positive feedback and to hear how our services are personally impacting clients!

Completing taxes annually improves the lives of so many Sunset Park residents who receive refunds and who establish a valuable history of timly annual filing. Our CFLSP Tax Manager, Juan Obando, stresses the importance of these services explaining how they “are bringing money back to the community when [people] need it most.”

In addition to our regular tax filing services, Center for Family Life also began the Self-Employed Tax Prep Program (SETP). SETP seeks to help self-employed individuals who often struggle to understand their tax filing obligations and to keep proper tax filing records. This program is crucial to helping people learn about the basics of tax filing through education and workshops. SETP also provides tax filing assistance and recordkeeping guidance to make the filing experience smooth and worry free. This program is expected to expand by June of 2024 to provide additional services and to serve even more New Yorkers!

Whether for our regular tax filing services or SETP, our tax filing team works incredibly hard each day to ensure that our community members receive the best service possible. We value all of our clients and are grateful for the support that we receive allowing us to help them. If you have not already, be sure to visit our website to sign up for a tax filing appointment if you are eligible!

Center for Family Life in Sunset Park Wishes You A Healthy and Happy Holiday Season!

December 2, 2022

by Kathleen Lion News and Events

For over 40 years, Center for Family Life has been committed to enriching the lives of individuals in Sunset Park through community partnerships and a dedication to service. Today, our comprehensive range of services engage more than 13,500 people at 10 community locations!

Thanks to your support, Center for Family Life achieved the following 2022 Highlights:

Our Benefits Access Program helped 851 clients obtain nearly $831,000 in benefits like SNAP and health insurance for their families!

Over 3,000 neighborhood residents were provided with meals from our food pantry. Between January and June of 2022, CFLSP was able to distribute over 14,000 pounds of food to our community members!

Our Child and Family Services provided child maltreatment preventive services and public benefits eligibility screenings to 265 families with 519 children!

Our ActionNYC team provided free immigration and legal services to 603 members, screening clients for immigration risks and all possible forms of relief.

We were able to assist in filing 3,127 returns for tax year 2021, generating a total refund of $4.4 million!

Our new 5-year NYS Education 21st Century Community Learning Center contract will allow us to serve 2,500+ youth at 10 school sites in the coming year!

Center for Family Life in Sunset Park is dedicated to promoting positive outcomes for youth and their families. Our services enrich the quality of life of individuals in our community and beyond, supporting families and increasing opportunities. We are honored to assist our community members in any way possible and are so thankful for all of your support. Our 2022 highlights are a testament to the generosity of each and every one of you. We hope to do even more in 2023!