Tax services available for non-English speaking residents

Love and taxes don’t usually go together, but Natalia Meyer fell for a career in tax preparation.

Meyer owns Latino’s Express Plus, a tax-preparation service office in Carrboro. She said most of her clients are recent immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries.

“It’s like I’m a translator,” she said. “I need to understand everything in English so I can try to explain it to them in our language.”

Meyer studied industrial engineering in college in her native country Colombia but became interested in tax preparation after working as an assistant to an accountant in North Carolina.

Meyer said she is available to help file taxes until April 18 and year-round to answer questions community members have about taxes.

“It’s not just to help them get more money, but so they can understand better and get more advantages,” she said. “They like to come here because I listen to them.”

Not knowing English often leads her clients to misconceptions, like that Meyer is the one who decides refunds and credits.

“But I just prepare the taxes,” she said. “Another person decides refunds.”

More local tax services

There are four Internal Revenue Service Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program sites in Orange County to help those whose household income is less than $60,000 annually.

The program is accepting walk-ins today. More information can be found at the county’s website.

The Benefit Bank of North Carolina is another free service that helps low-income state residents file taxes and claim income tax credits online. The bank also has several in-person sites, which can be found at www.thebenefitbank.com.

Tax services are helpful in ensuring that people claim the tax credits they’re owed, said Richard Hart, a spokesman for MDC, Inc., a Durham nonprofit organization and a partner of the Benefit Bank.

N.C. residents did not claim more than $200 million in available tax credits last year, Hart said.

“That’s workers and families who are eligible and don’t claim it, every year,” he said.

He said he encourages people to to see if they can qualify for several tax credits, like the earned income tax credit, which is available to families making about $43,000 or less, depending on children.

For residents who do not fit the profile for free services, tax-preparations companies like H&R Block can also help save money.

Chapel Hill resident Gene Urrutia said he has used H&R Block Online for the past four years to file his taxes.

“I used to try to do them by myself, but I save money this way,” he said.

Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com.