Johnson County’s Kansas State Research and Extension is partnering with El Centro, Inc. and Kansas City Metropolitan Tax Coalition in offering free basic tax return preparation services at the Sunset Drive Office Building, 11811 S. Sunset Drive, Olathe, until April 13.

The service will assist qualified individuals who make $64,000 a year or less. There are two types of services available:

• Walk in assistance: Available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturdays. There are no appointments, with first come, first served.
• Drop-off assistance: A secure drop box is available in the Extension office from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Document copies must be received by April 8.

The IRS has operated the VITA program for more than 50 years. VITA services are a free and trusted source for preparing tax returns.

All VITA tax preparers are trained and certified before completing returns. Preparers are volunteers and receive no compensation for their service.

Spanish language assistance is available.

During last year’s tax season, the Sunset Drive VITA site filed 1,375 federal returns and a similar number of state returns. The service saved eligible Johnson County taxpayers about $263,000 in tax preparation fees.

For more information about the program or to view a checklist of documents to bring, visit johnson.k-state.edu.