California Foster Youth Tax Project
 Current and former foster youth can file their taxes for free!
February 2024
The Reproductive Health Equity Project’s partner John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY), is conducting the California Foster Youth Tax Project to help current and former foster youth file their taxes.
The program establishes Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites specially equipped to assist current and former foster youth with filing their taxes for free, and conducting targeted outreach to direct youth to these sites and help them prepare for filing. This is an especially powerful tool to bring important economic resources to parenting youth in foster care and their children.
RHEP is supporting a pilot in Los Angeles. JBAY is also partnering with six counties and their non-profit partners to bring the program to other parts of the state. If you are a youth interested in support or know a youth that might want support click on the resources below.
Visit JBAY’s website for more information.Â
Resources
To see the 2024 Foster Youth Tax Project VITA Sites in different counties and to make an appointment, click here.
This guide walks young adults who are currently or formerly in foster care through the process of filing their own taxes from beginning to end for free with the support of myfreetaxes.org and TaxSlayer, the IRS free filing site. View Guide here
This checklist assists youth with gathering the necessary information and materials in preparation for filing their taxes to ensure youth file their taxes with confidence and maximize their cash back refund, including receiving the California Foster Youth Tax Credit. View checklist here
This virtual self-filing training provides step-by-step instructions on how youth can file their own taxes for free.
This one-pager educates and informs professional tax preparers about the California Foster Youth Tax Credit (FYTC). Providing tax preparers with this one-pager will ensure they do not miss the FYTC when assisting an eligible young adult with filing their taxes.
This can be printed out or pulled up on a phone or computer by young adults who choose to visit paid tax preparers or VITA sites not specializing in serving current and former foster youth. View one-page here
For more information, click here.
