Free tax assistance from Western students will be available to anyone in Bellingham.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance is an IRS-sponsored program to help people file tax returns. The program is geared toward students and lower income community members.
“It’s usually tailored to people that have less than $54,000 in income and need assistance filing their basic tax returns,” Site Coordinator Tyler Piper said. “The people that we have staffed at the site are mostly Western students who have passed IRS basic training and can help electronically file federal tax returns.”
The IRS provides the necessary materials like computers, printers and the training, but volunteers, most of them accounting students, staff the program.
“We take Western students in the accounting department or any volunteers from campus,” accounting professor and former Site Coordinator Ryan Dales said. “They volunteer to spend a few hours every week preparing tax returns for individuals who might need it.”
Two issues the program helps with are filing for dependents and helping students with tax credit.
While most of the focus is on students, tax assistance is available to non-students as well.
The upper income limit is $68,000 and even past that, there’s some wiggle room, Dales said.
