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Tips for Tax Time

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1040 Tax Form

As tax documents start showing up in mailboxes across southwest Florida we thought it was time to bring in a couple of experts to help listeners out. We’re joined by Kim Swanson, she’s a Crime Prevention Practitioner with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, to discuss the kinds of tax frauds and scams that are out there these days. She’ll guide us through what to watch out for, and best ways to protect our identities during tax season. We’re also joined by Patrice Cunningham, she’s United Way Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program Manager. She’ll help us break down the local resources available to help low-income individuals and families prepare their taxes for free.

Rachel Iacovone is a reporter and associate producer of Gulf Coast Live for WGCU News. Rachel came to WGCU as an intern in 2016, during the presidential race. She went on to cover Florida Gulf Coast University students at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Capitol Hill and Southwest Floridians in attendance at the following day's Women's March on Washington.Rachel was first contacted by WGCU when she was managing editor of FGCU's student-run media group, Eagle News. She helped take Eagle News from a weekly newspaper to a daily online publication with TV and radio branches within two years, winning the 2016 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for Best Use of Multimedia in a cross-platform series she led for National Coming Out Day. She also won the Mark of Excellence Award for Feature Writing for her five-month coverage of an FGCU student's transition from male to female.As a WGCU reporter, she produced the first radio story in WGCU's Curious Gulf Coast project, which answered the question: Does SWFL Have More Cases of Pediatric Cancer?Rachel graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.