Officials with United Bank have announced it will offer free tax preparation and filing assistance to residents across its footprint as part of the Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA). VITA sites will be available at the bank’s Atmore, Foley and Frisco City locations from January 17 thru April 14, 2012 with services available to individuals and families with total incomes of $50,000 or less.

“In the true spirit of community banking, we’ve offered our personnel and our offices to assist with the VITA program this year,” said United Bank President and CEO Bob Jones. “Helping residents understand their taxes and learn how to better manage their finances is another way we can be a resource to our customers and to our local communities.”

Volunteer tax assistance will be available in Atmore on Tuesday and Thursdays from 3-7 p.m. at the United Bank Office at 137 N Main Street (251-446-6000) and on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3-7 p.m. at the bank’s Foley location at 516 S. McKenzie Street (251-943-2020). Assistance in Frisco City will be available from 3-5 p.m. weekdays at 4285 Bowden Street (251-267-3161) as part of the Free Assisted Self Service Tax (FAST) preparation program.

Residents seeking assistance are encouraged to make an appointment by calling the individual offices. Taxpayers must provide a social security card for each person on their return as well as any W2s, 1099s or other relevant income or interest statements.

To ensure the highest quality standards are being implemented nationwide and to maintain consistently high-quality standards across the field, community VITA volunteers undergo extensive training and testing by the IRS prior to serving taxpayers. For United Bank, 10 to 15 volunteers will be trained before the program begins. Using the most recent data provided by the IRS, community VITA sites prepared approximately 1.3 million tax returns across 5,700 sites during the 2011 tax filing season and brought back more than $1.9 billion in tax refunds to taxpayers whose average Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) was $21,000.

For more information about United Bank or its efforts with VITA, contact Nancy Helton at 251-446-6053 or email nhelton@ubankal.com or visit the IRS website at www.irs.gov to learn more about the VITA program.