Tax credits available for OATS donations

Tax credits are available to taxpayers who donate $500 or more to OATS Inc., a transportation service provided to needy rural Missouri residents.

Qualified donations will be able to receive Missouri Neighborhood Assistance Program Tax Credits that permit donors to receive half of their contribution back as a tax credit on their Missouri income tax payments.

OATS this year received an allocation of $35,000 in tax credits from the State of Missouri Neighborhood Assistance Program to be used through June 2014.

Qualified donors have used 60 percent of the credits so far. But $14,000 still remains available to eligible donors. The tax credits received now will be available for use when Missouri state income taxes are due next April.

The donations are used to purchase new OATS vans.

Anyone interested in making a state tax credit donation to OATS may contact Jill Stedem, who is the administrative services director of OATS. She can be contacted by phone at 443-4516 or by e-mail at [email protected]

Last year, OATS served 31,000 Missourians. An estimated 36 percent of the use was to provide transportation to and from employment.