Income Tax Season is Here

ALL>> With income tax season here, California Governor Jerry Brown issued a proclamation declaring February 19-25, 2017 as “California Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Week” in the State of California to help residents remember to file their taxes. In partnership with the Governor’s office and a broad coalition of leaders and advocates, CalEITC4Me launched the awareness week with statewide events, social and traditional media promotion and community outreach aimed at building awareness of the California earned income tax credit program. The proclamation states it recognizes the importance of the Earned Income Tax Credit and encourages all Californians to spread the word about those who need it most. "We want every hard-working California family who earned this money to apply for it,” it states. CalEITC4Me is a statewide education and outreach campaign to get the word out to more than 600,000 eligible low-income working Californians about the state’s earned income tax credit program. “CalEITC4Me extends beyond putting dollars and cents in people’s pockets. It is about something more fundamental: relieving the persistent economic anxiety that so many hard-working families experience,” said Joseph N. Sanberg, Chair of CalEITC4Me. In its second year, CalEITC4me is reaching more eligible households through expanded multi-lingual education and grassroots outreach, enhanced web tools, free tax preparation services and a new texting campaign. Because language barriers can prevent many eligible families from claiming the refunds they have earned, CalEITC4Me has added Mandarin language tools and resources. CalEITC4Me has provided information about eligibility and nearby free tax preparation that is available by texting words including "money", "cash" and "dinero" to 1-760-970-8396. CalEITC4Me.org also provides resources for individuals as Californians must file their taxes by April 18 to qualify for the California Earned Income Tax Credit.