Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sessions were held last Friday and Saturday in Daniels College of Business (DCB) as a free service to help students and community members prepare and submit their federal and state income tax returns.
These sessions were the fifth and sixth sessions in an eight-session series, which began Feb 10 and continued throughout the month.
Beta Alpha Psi, an accounting and finance fraternity comprised of nearly 120 active members and over 8000 alumni members, founded the VITA program in 2003.
Its original purpose was to help international students negotiate the United States tax system and international tax treaties. Now, the program still serves international students, as well as low to middle-income families making under $50,000 a year.
“A lot of people don’t understand the tax system, so preparing your own taxes can be quite the daunting task,” said Elliot White, an officer of Beta Alpha Psi and director of the VITA program.
White runs the program with Nichole Parker, another fraternity officer and the site coordinator.
VITA’s goal is to provide free tax preparation for those who need assistance and cannot afford a program like TurboTax, which can cost $30-$130, depending on the type of return being filed.
About 10 volunteer accounting students work at a time to help prepare the tax returns. Volunteer Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) then review the returns before they are filed.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to get to know the tax system while giving back to the community,” said White.
There are about 50 total student volunteers, who will accumulate about 1,000 total hours of volunteer service by the end of the eight sessions. Last year, the program filed almost 440 tax returns – half of these federal and half state.
“So far we’ve prepared about 100 of each,” said White. “But our goal is to reach 250 federal and 250 state returns this year. We have four sessions left, so we’re hoping we can pick up the slack.”
The sessions are scheduled in four-hour blocks on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. The last sessions will be held on April 6 and 7 during spring quarter.
“We like people to schedule appointments, because we have limited space and volunteers. But we also accept walk-ins, and we will try to accommodate any member of the community who comes in,” said White. “We want to get as many people to come in as possible.”
Appointments can be made through VITA’s event page, at duvita2012.eventbrite.com.
