GALLIPOLIS — The Gallia County Department of Job and Family Services (DJFS) will, once again, provide office space to volunteers from the Ohio Benefit Bank (OBB) to provide free federal and Ohio income tax return assistance.

The free tax prep assistance is being made available to Ohioans with household incomes below $60,000 annually and with no itemized deductions. The OBB web-based tax program will be completed by a University of Rio Grande (URG) student as part of the URG Internship program.

“Interns have volunteered their time for this project in prior years and the process has assisted several citizens in our community,” said DJFS Director Dana Glassburn. “No funding is available to job and family services to provide this service so without the assistance of dedicated OBB volunteers, this particular tax assistance would not be available in our community.”

This year, only one intern has volunteered to work out of the DJFS site; therefore, service availability is limited.

The tax clinics will be held from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. every Tuesday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays at the DJFS office located at 848 Third Avenue, Gallipolis. Appointments are first come first serve walk-ins; however, DJFS reserves the right to schedule appointments for another day and time or cancel service times should it be necessary. This program will start January 29 and will run through April 11.

Residents will need to bring with them:

• Identification

• Social security numbers for filer and dependents

• W-2s and 1099s

• Information about other income like interest income

• Deduction and credit information such as child care expenses

• Copy of previous year’s tax return if one was filed

Federal and state tax refunds are usually being electronically deposited within seven to ten day with checks taking three to four weeks or longer.

“This free service is not intended to be in competition with other businesses or organizations; instead, it is another attempt to assist eligible taxpayers who miss out on getting free tax preparation assistance because they either don’t know it is available or they don’t know where to get it,” said Glassburn.