An unusual tax workshop is being held at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center until the mid-April tax filing deadline where prostitutes gain help from the workers on hand to explain things like the earned-income-tax credit.

The event was organized by a group called Prostitutes of New York, a support and advocacy group, and by a sex industry magazine called Spread. Prostitutes of New York advocate the legalization of prostitution and meets clandestinely to avoid the police and pimps.

Members of the group helped sex workers - including pornography actors, strippers, nude models, peep-show performers, phone-sex workers and madams - who want to begin filing tax returns.

Many sex workers want to avoid being a tax evader and become a legitimate taxpayer, begin paying into Social Security and build a good credit history.

The prostitutes can get free help from representatives from Citizens for NYC, which, using a grant from the Robin Hood Foundation, finances 40 local advocacy groups, including Prostitutes of New York, to offer tax help to marginalized workers who might not otherwise file, including street vendors, dishwashers and undocumented immigrants who work at hotel, restaurant and cleaning jobs.

A spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service said it had a number of civil and criminal tax-compliance programs in place to detect and deal with non-compliance by people who receive income in cash.