Tax-preparation assistance to be provided by volunteers
WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg University students will work with the Volunteers In Tax Assistance (VITA) network from Monday to Wednesday, April 6, to assist low-income individuals and families with tax preparation. To those who qualify, the service will be available each Monday and Wednesday at the Community Action Southwest building on Greene Street. Three Wednesday sessions will also be offered at the Senior Citizen Center in Carmichaels. Volunteers will be available from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The students, led by Melissa Heider, assistant professor of accounting at Waynesburg University, will join the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Community Action Southwest to offer the local tax assistance program.
Twenty-four Waynesburg University students are involved with the project and take pride in the fact that they will assist Greene County citizens as they face what can be a very stressful time, according to university officials.
“Providing a free service for under-privileged families, and saving them hundreds of dollars, is one of the best benefits of the VITA program,” said Bryan Phillips, a senior accounting major from Winona, Ohio. “It’s also giving us life experience in our field.”
Certified by the IRS, Waynesburg students are required to receive two eight-hour days of training with an IRS agent who gives a tax lecture using certified IRS software. Following the training, students must pass a computerized exam given by the IRS before they are permitted to volunteer. The volunteers are trained to file tax returns under the IRS’s e-file system. This system allows for a quicker tax return than the traditional paper-file system.
Once certified, the students are able to assist those who meet eligibility requirements with the free tax preparation program. Requirements include filing a mandatory 1040 form and having an annual income that does not exceed $38,000. The assistance saves local families filing fees of $300 to $600.
Last year, Waynesburg students clocked nearly 1,100 training and tax preparation hours among 164 refunds. Students saved those involved with the program more than $70,000 in filing fees and collected more than $120,000 in federal and state returns. Nearly $200,000 was brought back into Greene County as a result of the VITA program and Waynesburg University students. In addition, students also helped qualifying low-income wage earners receive $37,198 in Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
“For the past five years, the VITA program has been vital to the economy of Waynesburg,” Heider said. “The program has also deepened my admiration for my student volunteers. Their commitment to training, volunteering beyond their requirements, and their respect for the program has made me proud.”
Through the implementation of a service-learning course planned around student involvement with the VITA Program, Heider has played a key role in the volunteer component of the program.
Students represent a variety of majors and, according to Heider, it is not uncommon to see students voluntarily assist year after year without the reward of academic credit. Students volunteer at the Waynesburg, Carmichaels and Washington locations, and typically clock more than 30 individual volunteer hours.
For more information, call Kristen Kilgore at Community Action Southwest at 724-225-9550, ext. 421.