For Immediate Release

Contact: Cary Ziter – 518-281-1227

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance today announced three additional days of special free tax assistance to help Queens taxpayers file their federal and state income tax returns on-time. Tax Department experts are available today and tomorrow at the Queens Library at Flushing, and Wednesday at the Queens Central Library in Jamaica, in addition to 23 other locations across the city.

To provide extra assistance as the tax deadline approaches, the Department is deploying a Mobile Free Tax Assistance Unit to bring added capacity to two of the busiest free assistance sites in the state. The Individuals and families earning $60,000 or less can file their returns at no cost with the assistance of onsite NYS Tax Department experts. Taxpayers can save time and money while learning how to complete their own tax returns for the future. 

The Queens Library system provides more than a dozen locations across the borough. It’s part of a network of 80 taxpayer assistance sites sponsored by the Tax Department across New York State.

“With the tax filing deadline fast approaching, we are dramatically expanding our multi-language assistance to taxpayers at these very busy locations,” said New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Acting Commissioner Kenneth Adams. “We thank Governor Cuomo for his support of this program throughout the tax season, and the Queens Library team for graciously hosting our busiest sites.”

Tax Department experts will be on-site at the Queens Library at Flushing from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm today and from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm on Tuesday to help guide taxpayers through user-friendly tax preparation software. The software also helps ensure that valuable income tax credits, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, aren’t overlooked. On Wednesday, experts will be on-site to help taxpayers at the Queens Central Library in Jamaica from 1:30 pm to 8:00 pm.

“I applaud the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for providing free guidance to taxpayers who are electronically preparing and filing their own personal income tax returns,” stated Senator Toby Ann Stavisky.  “New York State’s effort to help people prepare their tax return is another example of government trying to become ‘user-friendly’.  The State benefits and so does the taxpayer.”

Tax Department employees speaking Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Bengali and Haitian Creole will be available to assist taxpayers at both locations.      

“For the last few years, our office has helped thousands of people with their tax returns, bringing back almost $2 million in tax credits and refunds to working families,” Assemblyman Ron Kim said. “However, there are still thousands more out there who need tax-related services and I thank the Tax Department and Acting Commissioner Adams for joining us in Flushing to service our constituents.”

In Queens alone, there are 45 free tax preparation sites sponsored by the IRS, AARP or the NYS Tax Department. Across New York City there are nearly 150 sites.

When visiting a free tax preparation site, taxpayers should bring photo identification, documents relating to income and expenses, as well as a copy of last year’s tax return, if they filed one.

For more information

·    To find a free tax assistance site in your community, visit www.tax.ny.gov/fsa or call 311

·    For New York State tax information call 518-457-5181