4 Tips to Make Doing Your Taxes Less Taxing
Skip to Content
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County
site search

4 Tips to Make Doing Your Taxes Less Taxing

Main Content

January 25, 2017

Written by Kristin Gross, La Casa De Esperanza

Here at La Casa de Esperanza, we are hard at work supporting the community during what can either be an exciting or stressful time of year: tax season. If you normally get a large refund, this may be your favorite time. If you owe Uncle Sam a big check you may not be as excited. Here are a few tips for a stress-free tax season:

  1. Check Your Mailbox: W2’s, 1099’s, and tax statements are all going to be arriving in the mail.  Create a designated space to keep all these documents together.
  2. Gather Important Information in Advance: Collect social security or ID numbers for anyone on your tax return. This is especially important for any new dependents you plan to claim on your return.
  3. Reflect on the Year: Review last year’s taxes and any big life events. Purchasing or selling a home, having a child, and going to college are all big life events that can impact your taxes.  Make sure you know what you are eligible to claim.
  4. Get Your Largest Possible Refund: The Earned Income Tax Credit is aimed at low and moderate-income working people. In 2015, the average EITC was $3,186 for a family with children, yet 20% of people eligible for the EITC did not take it! You may also be eligible for free tax preparation if you make less than $64,000 per year.

Feeling confident? Visit MyFreeTaxes.com to get started.

Have questions about filing your taxes? Visit a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site to meet with a tax preparer for free:

Journey House
2110 W. Scott St., Milwaukee
414.647.0129

La Casa de Esperanza
(Services available in Spanish)
202 East Broadway, Waukesha
262.832.1534

MATC - Downtown Campus
(Student Center S Building, 1st Floor)
700 W. State St., Milwaukee
414.963.2694, sdc.cascheduler.com

Milwaukee Christian Center
804 S. 14th St., Milwaukee
414.963.2694

Social Development Commission
1730 W. North Ave., Milwaukee
6848 N. Teutonia Ave., Milwaukee
414.963.2694, sdc.cascheduler.com


Kristin Gross is an Asset Building Coach for the Financial Stability Initiative at La Casa de Esperanza, in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The Financial Stability Initiative is a partnership between La Casa de Esperanza and the United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County. Kristin has her Bachelor’s degree in Personal Finance from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She is a financial coach and educator working with individuals and families on obtaining tools for financial capability by meeting basic needs, building savings and gaining assets. She enjoys sharing her knowledge of personal finances to positively impact the lives of others.

Have something to say? LEAVE A COMMENT:

The following required items were not provided or are in the wrong format. Please provide the required responses and submit again:

Your email address will not be published. All fields Required.

Name: 
  Please enter your name
  Please enter a valid email
Comment: 
  Please enter a comment

United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukehsa County blog and social media presence is designed as a source for information, sharing and collaboration about United Way and health and human service related topics. As part of our commitment to our readers, we expect all posters to abide by the following rules:
 • Posts and comments should be on topic, conversational, and serve to educate or entertain  
 • Posts and comments may not be unlawful, fraudulent, threatening, libelous, defamatory, discriminatory, harassing, obscene or otherwise rude or in poor taste  
 • Posts and comments may not be used for any commercial purpose or otherwise to promote any outside organization or its activities
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County reserves the right, at our discretion, to remove any post or to revoke a user’s privilege to post to our page. Comments found to be in conflict with the guidelines above will be removed promptly.
Comments are not necessarily those of United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County and its employees and we do not guarantee the accuracy of these posts.