El Dorado County Free Tax Prep

VITA Free Tax Prep

Free tax preparation in El Dorado County is offered under the VITA program sponsored by the United Way, California Capital Region, and the Tax-Aide program sponsored by the AARP Foundation. Both programs are operated under the auspices of the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance/Tax Counseling for the Elderly (VITA/TCE) program. VITA sites are intended to serve low to moderate income Taxpayers. The AARP Tax-Aide TCE program gives preference to Senior Taxpayers.

There are strict rules of ethics governing security and privacy of your tax return. You will never be asked to pay a fee and we cannot accept any money or donations for preparing your taxes. All volunteer tax preparers receive IRS tax law training and must pass a set of IRS certification tests every year.

The IRS imposes certain restrictions on the tax preparation services that can be offered by the VITA/TCE program. See our Scope of Service table for the list of services that we can provide.

All El Dorado County tax preparation sites are closed for the summer. We will begin taking appointments for the 2025 tax season on January 15, 2026. Most sites will check their appointment lines over the summer for any questions about tax returns that we prepared for you. There may be a delay in returning your call, it's summer.

There has been a lot of information (and misinformation) on the web regarding tax changes imposed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1, signed by the President on July 4. VITA/TCE tax sites are not able to answer questions regarding these changes at this time. The IRS will interpret the new law and issue updated publications, including VITA/TCE training materials, that will provide guidance on how we should apply the new law to individual tax returns.

We expect that the new publications with implementation guidelines will be issued prior to the 2025 tax preparation season, hopefully in December 2025 or January 2026. We will update the FAQ section of the web site with the new information when the IRS has finalized their tax publications.

El Dorado County United Way VITA Site

The VITA program is intended to serve Taxpayers whose tax returns have a gross income less than $69,000. If your income is above that level, please make an appointment with an AARP Tax-Aide site.

Site Address Days Hours Open/Close Dates Appt. Phone
Placerville Senior Center 937 Spring St, Placerville Closed for the season (530) 497-0380

El Dorado County AARP Tax-Aide Sites

AARP Tax-Aide sites have no income limitations or age restrictions. You do not have to be a member of AARP to have your taxes prepared.

Site Address Days Hours Open/Close Dates Appt. Phone
Cameron Park Community Center 2502 Country Club Dr, Cameron Park Closed for the season (530) 395-3101
Garden Valley Fire Department 4860 Marshall Rd, Garden Valley Closed for the season (530) 235-6332
Gold Country Senior Living 6041 Golden Center Ct, Placerville Closed for the season (530) 303-8115
Heritage El Dorado Hills Clubhouse 7000 Pismo Dr, El Dorado Hills Closed for the season (209) 806-3822
Lake Tahoe Recreation Center 1180 Rufus Allen Blvd. South Lake Tahoe Closed for the season No Appointment Needed
Pollock Pines Community Church 6361 Pony Express Trl, Pollock Pines Closed for the season (530) 497-0368

For other VITA/TCE and AARP Tax-Aide locations, visit the VITA/TCE and AARP Tax-Aide locator tools at IRS.gov.