How NYC's Public Housing Residents Can Get Their Taxes Prepped For Free

NEW YORK, NY — This tax season, like in past seasons, New Yorkers living in any of the city's 328 public-housing projects can get their taxes prepped for free. This year, though, the approximately 30-minute process is even easier.

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), along with a handful of partners, has doubled the number of tax prep centers in 2017.

Here's a map of the 22 centers:

Public-housing residents must earn $54,000 or less with dependents — or $30,000 a year or less without dependents — to qualify for the free service.

At the beginning of the 30-minute session, participants must fill out an intake form and submit their tax forms electronically to a city tax preparer. After said preparer has worked his or her magic, the tax returns should be ready to be sent to the IRS.

And the city's fleet of tax whizzes appear to know what they're doing: In the 2016 tax season, low-income New Yorkers received over $2 million dollars from the 1,400 tax returns filed through the free service, officials said.

The Food Bank For New York City has been providing free tax-prep services for low-income city residents since 2014.

“Far too often, working families are taken advantage of by unscrupulous tax preparers who promise big refunds and quick money while piling on fees and fraud," U.S. Congressman Jose Serrano said in a statement. "That is why the... program is so important."