The Unison at Veiner Centre is opening up a free income tax clinic for seniors, beginning Thursday by appointment only.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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Starting Thursday the Unison at Veiner Centre will be offering a free clinic to help seniors complete their income taxes.
Volunteers will be on hand to help seniors and AHIS clients fill out their income tax returns at no charge.
“We have some volunteers that helped us out with regards to filling out those tax returns,” says Cori Fischer, director Veiner Centre. “All our volunteers have been trained or have been doing this for a number of years.”
Fischer says the volunteers are trained to make sure their clients are qualifying for all the senior benefits offered by the province, as well as securing their GST rebates.
“It really helps bring seniors out of poverty by ensuring that their income taxes are completed,” says Fischer. “And that they’re qualifying for all of the senior benefits they may qualify for.”
Administration at the Veiner Centre says income taxes can be an overwhelming obstacle for seniors to overcome, and cost can often be a barrier, as well.
“Not only can it be very overwhelming to complete your own taxes,” says Fischer. “It can get very costly to pay someone else to do it.
“And this is a way for the income tax to get completed for the seniors in a manner which they don’t have to worry about it being a cost barrier.”
The free income tax clinic opens Feb. 29 at the Veiner Centre by appointment. Clients are asked to bring all their tax information to the clinic.
The service will be offered for free but the Veiner Centre is accepting donations to help offset some of the cost of operating the clinic.
