A Connecticut teacher raised $41,000 to help neighbors during the pandemic. He's now asking for help to settle a $16,000 tax bill as a result.

• A Connecticut teacher raised more than $41,000 to help families during the pandemic last year.
• Louis Goffinet now faces $16,000 in income tax on the money raised through Facebook fundraisers.
• The money was given to assist families with rent, groceries, and cash.

A Connecticut teacher raised more than $41,000 to assist neighbors in need during the pandemic but is now facing over $16,000 in income tax as a result.

Louis Goffinet, an 8th-grade teacher in Manchester, Connecticut, began Facebook fundraisers to help out his neighbors in April 2020. His two fundraisers "Neighbors Grocery Relief" and "Neighbors Holiday Relief" garnered $41,134.16 by the end of the year to help people with groceries, and cash and rental assistance, he said in a Facebook post.

Goffinet told WVIT the funds helped 140 families with groceries, funded 125 family dinners, 80 Thanksgiving pies, and 31 Thanksgiving dinners. It also helped five families with rental assistance and helped 20 people buy holiday gifts for their kids.

The money raised was declared on 1099 form as personal income and Goffinet said he'd been told the funds do not "adequately qualify them to be deductions, and are instead simply gifts."

He said the impact this has had on his personal taxes is $16,103, which "more than I can reasonably afford to pay alone."

"It was a little gut-wrenching. As a teacher, I think many people understand, our salary is not as high as other jobs," Goffinet told WVIT. "So, $16,000 for me is significant. It is a huge part of my yearly income."

Goffinet told Insider he'd been picked up by a certified public accountant and tax attorney who will look into how to reduce or eliminate the tax burden.