New Brunswick Free Public Library - Free Income Tax Filing

The New Brunswick Free Public Library, in partnership with United Way of

Central Jersey (UWCJ) and Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) at the Rutgers Business

School, is a site for the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance)

program, offering free income tax filing assistance for taxpayers with

incomes up to $75,000 for tax year 2024.

You can make an appointment to meet with the Rutgers BAP student

volunteers by calling the library at 732-745-5108 x25. Before this

appointment, you will need to pick up an intake packet at the library or

print out the checklist and intake forms from the library’s website,

then complete the Intake Form and bring all items on the checklist to

your appointment. The appointments will be held in the library and will

be “same-day returns”. Volunteers will conduct a brief interview and

then you will be asked to wait nearby while the volunteers prepare your

return. The estimated wait time is between 1 to 2 hours. You will pick

up your return the same day while the volunteers are available. These

appointments are on Fridays and Saturdays only, from February 7 to April

5, 2025 (excluding March 14 to 22). When making your appointment, let us

know if you wish to meet with someone who speaks Spanish.

The library will also host a UWCJ drop-box, for anyone who wants their

taxes filed remotely with the UWCJ. The drop-box will be in the

library’s main lobby from the last week of January through March 31,

2025. To use the drop-box, complete an intake packet and enclose all

needed documents before dropping the completed packet into the locked

drop-box. These returns will be handled solely by the United Way (not

the Rutgers BAP students). The drop-box contents will be collected twice

weekly. Clients will receive a phone call for their intake interview and

a call to collect the completed returns. UWCJ volunteers will be at the

library each Friday, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., to go over returns placed

in the drop-box.

Details, downloadable intake forms, and the checklist of all required

items are available on the library’s website here, and as well as at the library.

Please understand that the library is only a site for this service. All

tax filing is handled only by IRS certified volunteers. Library staff

have no way of accessing the contents of the lockbox and are not able to

answer any specific tax filing questions.

Beta Alpha Psi is an International Honor Society for Financial

Information Students. The organization is highly selective and focuses

on academic excellence, leadership, community service, and social

networking. Along with maintaining high academic standards and

exhibiting leadership skills, members of BAP are also deeply committed

to community service, both on the Rutgers University campus and in the

surrounding city of New Brunswick. Along with the tax return assistance

program, BAP is involved in many on-campus volunteer opportunities,

various tutoring and literacy programs, and is part of a coalition of

nonprofit organizations working to better the larger New Brunswick area.

If you have questions for the BAP student volunteers about the VITA

program, please email vita.thetamubap@gmail.com.

The United Way of Central Jersey (‘UWCJ’) provides leadership to create

opportunities for a better life for people living or working in our

communities who are needy, at-risk, and vulnerable. They achieve this by

forming partnerships and mobilizing people to create and sustain

programs to achieve that mission goal. UWCJ serves the community as

Coordinator for the Middlesex County VITA Coalition (Volunteer Income

Tax Assistance), comprised of public and non-profit organizations

dedicated to ensure that income eligible tax filers receive all refunds

and tax credits to which they are entitled, such as the Earned Income

Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit. The Middlesex County VITA Coalition

has grown over the last 10 years to one that has gained IRS recognition

as a program that provides highly-professional tax return preparation

services. During the tax season just completed, the Coalition filed

4,406 federal and state returns, saving households $543,750 in tax

preparation fees and returning $2,259,000 in refunds and credits.

The Internal Revenue Service provides a grant to UWCJ that partially

supports the program, supplemented by funding from the United Way of

Central Jersey, with the addition of in-kind support from Coalition

partners in terms of volunteer coordination, provision of space and

equipment.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) is an IRS national

program providing free assistance to low income, elderly, limited

English proficient and/or disabled individuals who require assistance in

preparing their tax returns and cannot afford the services of a paid

professional tax preparer.