Many of those websites supply help in Spanish, Cantonese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and different languages. Some additionally supply unscheduled walk-in appointments.
Discover free tax assist close to you on-line:
Discover free tax assist close to you by cellphone:
- Name 211
- Textual content “taxes” to 211-211 (a textual content assist line from United Methods of California and 211) to discover a free tax submitting web site close to you.
What to have prepared earlier than submitting
The final two weeks earlier than Tax Day are usually the busiest interval without cost tax clinics, with many seeing as much as a whole lot of individuals every week.
Because of this, the tax help teams KQED spoke to pressured simply how vital it’s for filers to have all the things prepared forward of time — to make the method as straightforward and quick as potential. So, just a few days earlier than your submitting appointment, begin getting all of your paperwork collectively in a “submitting equipment.”
Be sure your equipment contains the next:
1. Your photograph ID
2. Your Social Safety card, or a letter from the Social Safety Administration that verifies your SSN
- In case you do not need a Social Safety quantity, deliver your Particular person Taxpayer Identification Quantity (ITIN) offered by the IRS as a substitute. An ITIN is a quantity created by the IRS for taxpayers who don’t have a Social Safety quantity resulting from their immigration standing.
- As of Feb. 5, a federal choose has quickly blocked the IRS from sharing with the Division of Homeland Safety the non-public info of taxpayers submitting with an ITIN for immigration enforcement functions. The courts haven’t but reached a ultimate determination on whether or not federal businesses can share tax knowledge with one another, however within the meantime, the IRS can not share private info, like a taxpayer’s tackle, with businesses like ICE.
- Get extra info on the best way to request an ITIN.
3. The Social Safety numbers and/or ITIN numbers of everybody you’ll be claiming in your taxes this yr
4. Revenue assertion types out of your employer equivalent to a W-2, 1099-MISC, 1099-NEC or 1099-Ok.
- Beginning this yr, it’s best to obtain within the mail a 1099-Ok type in case you use on-line fee programs like Venmo, Money App or PayPal, and obtained over $20,000 in additional than 200 transactions. You should still obtain a 1099-Ok type in case you made lower than this quantity. The IRS said this yr that “you need to report all revenue in your tax return,” regardless of the quantity of reported funds.
- In case you didn’t obtain a 1099-Ok type — however remodeled $20,000 by way of on-line platforms — let your filer know to stop the chance of a possible audit from the IRS.
- In case you claimed unemployment advantages in 2025, the EDD additionally ought to have despatched you a 1099-G type.
5. Proof of well being care protection
- This will probably be a 1095-B type, or 1095-A type in case you’re insured by way of Coated California.
- In case you didn’t obtain a 1095-B or 1095-A within the mail, and also you have been enrolled in a well being care plan in 2025, contact your care supplier or entry your on-line well being care account to have it prepared earlier than you go to a tax clinic.
Issues to remember when speaking to a tax filer
Upon getting your submitting equipment assembled, be sure to share all the things together with your tax filer. And even in case you misplaced a type, let your filer know which advantages you obtained in 2025.
It’s frequent for filers to go to a tax clinic believing they qualify for sure credit, when that might not be the case. For instance, some suppose that everybody is eligible to obtain the federal Earned Revenue Tax Credit score, no matter revenue.
However in actuality, this money rebate is determined by how a lot revenue you obtain and what number of dependents you declare in your tax return. For instance, in case you are submitting collectively together with your partner and solely have one baby, your 2025 revenue will need to have been lower than $57,554. In case you’re submitting by your self and don’t have any dependents, your revenue final yr will need to have been below $19,104 to qualify for this credit score.
California has its personal state model of this rebate, known as the California Earned Revenue Tax Credit score. However solely households that made as much as $32,900 in 2025 are eligible.
In case you don’t have proof of well being care protection (like a 1095-B or 1095-A type) since you don’t have medical insurance, it’s best to make that very clear to your tax preparer.
It’s possible you’ll very possible be penalized by the state of California for being uninsured. You need to use the penalty estimator device on the state’s Franchise Tax Board web site to calculate how massive this penalty may very well be for you.
