Benton County residents benefit from Care Connection volunteer tax assistance

Benton County residents were able to receive $132,674 in federal and state income tax returns and Missouri Property Tax Credits with the help of two volunteers from Care Connection for Aging Services.
Volunteers donated 196 hours to help seniors file 147 federal tax and 232 state tax returns, as well as 21 applications for the Missouri Property Tax Credit.
The volunteers worked through Care Connection’s Warsaw Senior Center in Harbor Village and Cole Camp Senior Center.
In all, Care Connection had 25 volunteers in its area who donated 1,394 hours to help 1,575 people in 13 West Central Missouri counties receive a total of $974,546 through its tax assistance program in 2017.
“This is important to the seniors individually, but the $132,674 is an incredible amount of money for the community, whether it is saved or used for goods and services,” said Care Connection Director of Tax Assistance Kathy Ray-Smith. “For the individuals receiving the property tax credit, a lot of them plan all year what they might spend that refund on, whether it be on improvements on homes, eyeglasses and dentures, or maybe to pay off a bill.”