If you earned less than $38,348 , you might qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) — money the government gives away. Something like a quarter of those who qualify fail to apply, which is a shame, since I’m sure they could spend the money more wisely than Congress.
To find out if you qualify, how much credit you can expect, and how to apply for it — visit irs.gov (o en español).
If you want to help other people apply for the credit, you can easily become a volunteer tax preparer for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program — the IRS will train you free-of-charge and you don’t need any prior experience in tax preparation. This will be . I helped 17 households take back $20,404 from the U.S. Treasury.
Alas, as far as I can tell, there’s no central on-line resource that can point you to VITA volunteer opportunities in your area. You might try googling or you can call the IRS at 1‒800‒829‒1040 to find out about nearby sites.