Animas Foundation Announces Two New "Tax Matters" Classes

Feb. 24, 2016 - PRLog -- The Animas Foundation announced the production and availability of two educational Income Tax programs, called “Tax Matters”, written for two different target audiences. One class is for those who are contract workers, self-employed or small business owners, and the second class was prepared for those who are employed by a company or organization receiving a regular paycheck subject to Withholding.  Both classes were crafted specifically for students with limited literacy skills or those who speak English as a second language.

Executive Director for the Animas Foundation, Dale Turner, presented both classes in two series recently at the Vickery Meadow Learning Center and the Dallas CitySquare Opportunity Center.  Turner, who is a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI) and previously a small business owner himself, produced and tested both classes with students at the two venues.

“Tax Matters for the Self-Employed was taught at both locations,” Turner said. “Being self-employed has more complicated tax paying requirements and we wanted to be sure that our teaching methodology for that class in particular would not ‘talk over the heads’ of students with limited literacy and English-speaking skills,” he explained.

Tax Matters for Employees Receiving a Paycheck was vetted with a student class at the Dallas CitySquare Opportunity Center.  “I believe we were successful in de-mystifying the often confusing and not-so-user-friendly landscape of the IRS Tax Code,” Turner added.

The classes taught at the CitySquare Opportunity Center were jointly hosted by CitySquare’s Financial Empowerment program in partnership with Literacy Instruction for Texas (LIFT), both of which work with low-income families in Dallas to provide literacy, employment and life-skill classes.

Jessica Miller, Student Outcomes Manager at LIFT, sat in on the classes and walked away with a better understanding of income taxes herself.  “Taxes can be so scary, and quite often I’ve found my students avoid doing their taxes, are afraid to ask questions, or feel intimidated because they don’t feel knowledgeable.  After this class, our students talked about how much more confident they felt,” she said. “This class wasn’t just about taxes—it was about empowering our students with knowledge in order to better understand their financial situation, and in turn, help them to achieve their goals.” she added.

Kassidy Birdsong, Program Manager for Dallas CitySquare Financial Empowerment, also sat in on some of the classes. “The classes were masterfully facilitated,” she said. “I loved hearing about the dreams that the students had for their own businesses and seeing their intense note taking,” she added.

The Animas Foundation’s Tax Matters for the Self-Employed and Tax Matters for Employees Receiving a Paycheck are now available to be taught free of charge to any group within the DFW Metroplex.   Both are part of the Foundation’s mission to improve the lives of low income families through financial literacy programs and education.

“The bureaucrats that wrote the Tax Code seemingly like to keep things complicated,” Turner said.  “We stripped out the minutia, and kept things very top-line.  Our basic concept is that a taxpayer should understand the fundamentals enough to have a meaningful conversation with their tax preparer.  But we do not advocate that people prepare their own taxes,” he added, “And we were not going to waste any time teaching people how to fill out IRS forms.”

In fact, the Animas Foundation advocates that those earning less than $54,000 per year use the Volunteer Income Tax Preparer (VITA) program, a program sponsored by the IRS.  In conjunction with VITA, Dallas Foundation Communities has seven Tax Centers set up throughout the Metroplex with certified tax preparers that will help people prepare their income tax return for free.  Such preparers have studied the IRS Tax Code and have passed an exam to show proficiency in understanding and preparing IRS Tax Forms.  For the locations and hours of operation of these tax centers, call 1-844-DTC-1040 or logon to www.DallasTaxCenters.com.

“Even if you earn more than $54,000 a year, we recommend you use a certified tax preparer or a tax accountant to handle your taxes,” Turner stipulated, “The fee you pay will save you money in the long run, and any fees you pay to prepare your taxes are themselves tax deductible.”

To schedule one or both of the two Animas Foundation tax classes for your organization or employees, email your request to info@animasfoundation.org. Course outlines are available on the Foundation’s website at www.animasfoundation.org/programs.

Animas is a 501(c)(3) public charity with a social mission to promote entrepreneurship, financial literacy and improve the economic lives of low-income families in North Texas.  For more information about the Foundation and its mission, please visit www.animasfoundation.org.

CitySquare was founded in 1990 and has a mission to fight the root causes of poverty through service, advocacy, and friendship.  For more information, you can go to www.citysquare.org.

LIFT was founded in 1961 and offers free classes so that functionally illiterate adults can learn to read and write English. Since its founding, over 45,000 low-literate adults have learned to read at LIFT. More information is available at www.lift-texas.org.