Danuta Opala sat on a plastic chair in the packed waiting room at Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union on a recent Saturday afternoon, waiting patiently for free tax preparation help.
She lost her job in February after working for eight years as a clerk in a jewelry store in Astoria. She said there just wasn’t room in her budget for an accountant this year.
“I don’t make enough,” she said. “And I don’t want to spend.”
More people are skipping the accountant this tax season in the hopes of saving cash. The number of people using free community tax services and do-it-yourself filing software are up as some traditional tax preparers are feeling the pinch.
