H&R Block, Mustard Seed team up for tax program

By KELLEN TANIGUCHI on March 20, 2021.

ktaniguchi@medicinehatnews.com@kellentaniguchi

H&R Block has teamed up with the Mustard Seed to help low-income and homeless people in Medicine Hat file their taxes for free.

The tax preparation company has been partnered with the Mustard Seed for the past five years, but this is the first time the Returning Hope program is available in the Hat.

“It’s our way of giving back to the community and helping the low-income and homeless people file tax returns,” said Debbie McLaren, area manager of H&R Block in Medicine Hat.

“It’s something that some of the people in those categories have a difficult time with and mainly it’s because they maybe lack government ID, or they don’t have an address, or they don’t have a bank account. So, we can help with that.”

McLaren says in the five years the company has worked with the Mustard Seed across Canada, 1,420 tax returns have been prepared for 782 clients. The total refunded through the program to date is $1.49 million.

“We’re very passionate about supporting people in our community and across the country to file their tax returns and get the refunds that they’re entitled to,” she said.

Spiritual care Chaplin Murray Kumm of the Mustard Seed says submitting a tax return can lead to a large amount of money for people in need.

“Once you get your income tax done, there are so many other things that you qualify for like GST returns and other government rebates and stuff that you can’t get if you don’t do your income tax,” he said.

Kumm says he’s already had three people take advantage of the program, which started Monday. He added the program is easy to use and is accessible for everyone at the Mustard Seed.

“A lot of these people don’t have vehicles. They don’t know where to go, or how to get this stuff done,” he said. “Having this program, I grab the forms, have them fill them out and I bring it back to H&R every week.”

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to H&R Block as a bank. It is a tax preparation company. The story has been updated to correct this error. 

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