Vita Program to Help Community with Taxes

By James Trent

On February 27, 2018

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The VITA program offers free help with tax returns to qualified applicants.
Photo Courtesy of Pexels

One of Concord’s offered resources seeks to help students and members of the community with a difficult responsibility: tax returns.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is designed to help people file tax returns when they otherwise might not be able to. According to their page on the IRS’ website, “The [VITA] program offers free tax help to people who generally make $54,000 or less, persons with disabilities and limited English speaking taxpayers who need assistance in preparing their own tax returns. IRS-certified volunteers provide free basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing to qualified individuals.” The emphasis with the program is that it assists people with filing for tax returns and aims to help people who are too poor to afford or otherwise unable to seek out professional help. Anyone who meets the program’s criteria can set up an appointment with their local VITA station, then come in to have IRS-certified volunteers, like students, help them file their tax returns.

The program was first brought to Concord in 2012 by then associate professor of business Dr. Cynthia Khanlarian. After Dr. Khanlarian left Concord, one of the programs volunteers, Shea Booth, returned and took up the program. “I was the chief quality reviewer for three years under her,” Shea recalls, “when I was at Concord as a student. So I was the most qualified to handle it.”

On the student side of the program, VITA is broken up into two courses for a total of three hours. All students are required to be certified by passing the VITA exams before Jan. 31. These exams prepare students to assist the public, but they also provide accounting experience for those preparing to be a CPA. The course is not limited to accounting majors, and the program offers students an opportunity to learn a valuable, practical skill.

“There’s about 15 students enrolled in the class right now,” Shea says, “And I’m also being helped by Ms. Shelly Stump and Dr. Charlotte Davis.” This is about the average enrollment the program gets, but the number of clients helped far exceeds that number. In 2017, the program submitted around 320 returns for community members, and this year’s program has had 45 returns accepted by the IRS before the end of February. The program started filing on the first Tuesday of February and plans to run until the last Wednesday of March.

Anyone interested in taking advantage of the program must make an appointment with Bonnie Brown. The program files tax returns on Tuesday on Concord campus, and beginning in March, the program will be moving to the Princeton Commission on Aging for four weeks. Assisting the elderly is another focus of the program, and it specializes in tax returns dealing with retirement and pensions.

In the past, participation in the VITA program was linked to a tax course for business majors, but this year the program is accepting all majors. Anyone who can pass the VITA exam and receive certification is welcomed to join the program. Each spring, the course is listed under other accounting courses, and provides a great opportunity for students to learn a valuable skill and boost their résumés. The program is also a great opportunity for volunteer work, as it is a valuable service provided to the community and various people in need. “It’s a very good program,” Shea says. “If anyone is interested in participating next year, I would highly encourage it.”