Spokane families may be leaving thousands of dollars on the table when filing their taxes. Here’s how to get your share

Thousands of households in Spokane County are eligible for a tax credit that they aren’t applying for, according to Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown, who helped design the credit when she served in the state Senate.

The Working Families Tax Credit is an annual tax refund worth between $50 and $1,255 depending on income level, number of qualifying children and whether an individual is single or files their taxes jointly with a partner. Income eligibility is based on federal tax returns, but the credit is funded by state sales taxes.

Of the roughly 30,000 eligible households in Spokane County, more than half have not applied, Brown said at a Tuesday news conference aimed at encouraging local residents to get their credits.

“We want those refunds in the pocketbooks and hands of our residents, then being spent in our businesses and helping to support our families,” Brown said. “Let’s do all we can to get those dollars circulating in our economy.”

Brown noted that efforts to create the tax credit were motivated by the state’s regressive tax code, which causes lower-income residents to pay a higher percentage of their paycheck in taxes.

“This Working Families Tax Credit was one piece of the equation to make that more balanced,” Brown said.

The Spokane City Council earlier this year approved $250,000 to spend on a marketing campaign to encourage low-income residents to apply, as well as to support various organizations that can assist households with filing their taxes free of charge.

If every eligible household applied for the credit, even if they received the minimum amount of $50, the initiative could still bring more than three times as much money into the county than the city is spending. Of the 12,320 refunds that have been issued locally, $9.4 million has come back into Spokane County, an average return of $760 per household.

Eligible households who haven’t applied in prior years can also retroactively receive the credit for the last three years.

Eligibility for a single filer without dependents requires exceptionally low yearly income, around $17,600, but that threshold jumps up to $46,560 for a single parent of one child and goes as high as $63,398 for two parents of three children filing jointly.

The city has partnered with Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners, Nuestras Raices, LaunchNW, Spokane Public Schools to advertise the credit. While households can independently apply for the credit through the state Department of Revenue’s website, SNAP and Nuestras Raices will also assist individuals with filing their taxes and ensuring that they apply for credits where eligible.

“Even if you’ve already filed your taxes, I encourage you to still see if you qualify for the credit,” said Nicole Bishop, philanthropy manager for SNAP. “Not every tax service over the last two years has automatically opted families into the tax credit, so you may, potentially without even knowing it, be leaving money on the table.”