Taxpayer Assistance: State-Specific

Filing your state and federal tax returns each spring can be an overwhelming experience for taxpayers. You may need help with your returns. But professional tax help can be too expensive for some low- to moderate-income taxpayers. Fortunately for them, each state has various organizations offering free tax help to taxpayers who are senior citizens or have moderate incomes. In some cases, taxpayers earning up to $79,000 a year qualify for assistance with their federal and state income tax returns.

Since tax help often requires an in-person meeting to view all your tax information, many national organizations that provide tax assistance organize their services by city or county and not by state. So, we first provide links to national organizations that offer local tax help in each state. Then, we provide a listing of state-level organizations providing tax assistance, organized by state.

AARP Foundation

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Foundation's Tax-Aide Program operates a nationwide network of tax clinics serving senior citizens. Many also provide services to low-income taxpayers. The AARP Foundation Tax-Aide Site Locator will help you locate state and federal tax help in your community.

Local United Way Chapters

The United Way offers a nationwide network of clinics providing tax help to qualifying taxpayers. Unfortunately, the organization doesn't offer a nationwide directory of its taxpayer assistance centers. So, you must search the web to see who is offering help in your community.

IRS VITA and TCE programs

The organization overseeing the largest network of free state and federal tax assistance providers is the Internal Revenue Service. It does so through its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs. In fact, most state and local organizations providing tax assistance to low-income or senior taxpayers work closely with the IRS. This helps ensure that they are providing IRS-certified tax help complying with minimum standards set by the agency. The IRS offers a convenient web tool on IRS.gov for finding VITA and TCE sites near you.

Local Taxpayer Advocate

The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an IRS organization operating independently from the rest of the agency. The taxpayer advocate ensures that every taxpayer is treated fairly by the IRS. They also provide assistance to taxpayers having trouble resolving their tax issues with the IRS. The IRS website offers links and phone numbers for contacting the local taxpayer advocate in your state.

State Organizations Offering Tax Help

The following list provides links to the websites of statewide organizations offering free tax help in each state.