Tax Help Montana

TAX HELP MONTANA (THM)

Tax Help Montana (THM) is a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program made up of a coalition of community partners led by RDI, offering free tax preparation and filing services to seniors and low-moderate income families and individuals. A primary objective of the Tax Help MT VITA/TCE program is to lift families out of poverty through increased access to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) – proven to be the largest and most effective anti-poverty program in the nation. Tax Help Montana implements the federal anti-poverty EITC as a vessel for economic opportunity and income equality.

Tax Help Montana volunteer tax preparers are trained and IRS-certified to help ensure each client is receiving this and other tax credits for which they qualify. In combination with the Child Tax Credit (CTC), the EITC serves as a tool to reduce the number of economically vulnerable people.

Below is a list of general qualifications for VITA, but is not all inclusive:

Income guideline is household income less than $67,000 per year
Cannot have Schedule C with loss, depreciation, employees, or business use of the home
No rental income (Schedule E)
No farm or ranch activities (Schedule F)

Below is a list of general qualifications for TCE, but is not all inclusive:

No income guideline if taxpayer or spouse is over the age of 60
Cannot have Schedule C with loss, depreciation, employees, or business use of the home
No rental income (Schedule E)
No farm or ranch activities (Schedule F).

What to Bring and Tax Locations

Click here for a list of what to bring to your tax appointment or to prepare for a virtual or drop-off appointment.

All W-2 and 1099 Forms
Picture ID for All Taxpayers
Social Security Cards for All Family Members
Childcare Provider's Tax ID Number
Banking Information (Routing and Account numbers) for Direct Deposit
1095-A Health Insurance if Insured through the Marketplace
Last Year's Tax Return

Our 2025 Tax Sites

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File your federal and state taxes yourself for FREE using MyFreeTaxes. This option is best suited for those taxpayers with $73,000 or less of income and simple tax returns who would normally buy off-the-shelf tax software.

MyFreeTaxes provides free federal and state tax preparation and filing assistance for qualifying individuals and families. It is the first online initiative allowing free federal and state tax prep and filing in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

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RDI Tax Assistance Menu of Services

If you don’t qualify for free tax preparation, we also offer low-cost tax prep right here at RDI. And remember, we have a tax expert on staff, all year round. If you’ve been contacted by the IRS and are unsure of where to go next, we can help.

Amendments

Did you discover that you didn’t list all of your income on your tax return? Or did you forget to claim all of your tax credits? If you filed your tax return and realized that something needs to be added, updated, or corrected, you will need to file an amended tax return. However, if it’s BEFORE the tax deadline, you should go back to the place that prepared your taxes and have them complete an amended return for you.

IRS Letters

We can help if you receive a letter from the IRS after the tax season and need assistance deciphering the “tax language". We will determine if it’s a legitimate IRS correspondence or a scam, then guide you to an appropriate response. Many times a letter can be easily cleared up by providing the IRS additional information or by preparing an amended tax return.

Year-round Tax Assistance

No matter if you have all your tax documents in January or missed the filing deadline in April two years ago, we have a free tax preparation option for you. If you are filing during the traditional filing season, we have free VITA, Virtual VITA, and TCE clinics at approximately 30 sites in Montana and Idaho that you can visit. If it is after April 17th, taxes are prepared by appointment only.

Helpful Links

Become A Tax Certified Volunteer

Print & Return

Download the loan application (PDF) and return by mail or email.

Fillable PDF Download

Apply Online

Fill out the application right here on our website.

Online Application

Our VITA and TCE tax sites are 100% staffed by community volunteers. In 2022, 110 selfless people – ranging from a 16 year-old student to an 85 year-old retiree – contributed their valuable time to the Tax Help Montana coalition. For more information about volunteering for the Tax Help Montana program, please contact the Tax Help Montana Manager at Rural Dynamics or email info@ruraldynamics.org.

Volunteer Roles

IRS-certified tax preparer – Tax Preparers complete tax law training and get successfully certified on Link and Learn. They provide high-quality tax preparation to all taxpayers, prepare only those returns for which they are certified, refer customers outside the VITA scope to a paid practitioner or firm (no particular one), advise taxpayer they are ultimately responsible for the information on the return, ensure Form 8879 is signed prior to transmitting the return, and ensure all returns prepared are quality reviewed.

Greeters – Greet all taxpayers visiting the site to create a pleasant atmosphere, ensure taxpayer has brought all required documents to complete a tax return, develops a log or check sheet to sign in taxpayers, and monitors site traffic to ensure that sufficient time is allowed for all taxpayers being checked in at the site to receive assistance.

Site Coordinator – Site Coordinators get advanced certification and complete Site Coordinator Training. They ensure all volunteers adhere to the Quality Site Requirements and to the Volunteer Standards of Conduct, obtain a signed Volunteer Standards of Conduct Agreement from all volunteers prior to working at the site, communicate Volunteer Tax Alerts, Quality Site Requirement Alerts, & technical updates to all volunteers. They also submit e-files and work rejection issues.

Screeners – Screen taxpayers to determine the type of assistance they will need. Screeners go through taxpayer documents, determining level of difficulty and whether there is even a filing requirement. If no requirement, the screener determines if it is to the taxpayer’s benefit to file anyway, ie. Earned Income Tax Credit, Refund of withholding, Elderly Homeowner/Renter Credit (2EC).

IT/Technical – An IT/Technical volunteer is utilized mainly before the tax season begins. They are responsible for updating all THM computers, as they have been sitting all summer, and diagnosing and fixing problems as they come up throughout the season.

Quality Reviewer – Quality Reviewers certify to the highest level of return the tax site prepares. They conduct a quality review using Form 13614-C as a guide on all returns prepared at the site, explain to the taxpayer that by signing the return, guarantees that the taxpayer has examined the return for accuracy, and provides feedback to the Tax Preparers and Site Coordinators regarding any errors made on tax returns.