The start of a new year
always heralds the arrival of all those great little documents
one must collect in order to file one's income tax return. Both
the federal and state governments offer several tax credits
and rebates for parents and low-income workers - literally hundreds
of million of dollars of it. Unfortunately, far too much of
it goes unclaimed either because people don't know about them
or don't go to a competent tax preparer.
Here is the good news: New Mexico Voices for Children has partnered
with the National Women's Law Center on this year's campaign,
which highlights three federal and two New Mexico tax credits
for families with children:
- The federal Child and Dependent Care Tax
Credit offsets up to $2,100 of the child or dependent
care expenses that families incur in order to work each year.
The New Mexico Child Day Care Tax Credit can offset
up to $1,200 per year.
- The federal Earned Income Tax Credit
helps provide a wage supplement for low-income families (with
earnings under $38,348) up to $4,716 a year. Those who qualify for the federal EITC can also claim New Mexico's Working Families Tax Credit on their state income tax return. It's worth 8 percent of the federal, or up to $377.
- New Mexico's Low-Income Comprehensive Tax Rebate can return up to $450
a year to families.
- The federal Child Tax Credit offsets
some of the costs of raising children, up to $1,000 per child.
To see if you or your clients are eligible,
the National Women's Law Center has summarized information about
both the federal credits and New Mexico's tax provisions in
easy-to-read fliers, available in English and Spanish, which
can be viewed at www.nwlc.org/loweryourtaxes.
And there is more good news: you neither have
to be a tax expert or pay lots of money to one in order to get
all the credits you've earned. TAX HELP New Mexico offers free
tax preparation and electronic filing for any New Mexican over
the age of 65 or with an annual income under $36,000.
TAX HELP NM is a program of Central New Mexico Community College
(CNM). Get more information here: http://www.cnm.edu/taxhelp/.
