Students and community members who are filing taxes can get help with their return from the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program on campus or online.
In collaboration with Beta Alpha Psi – Western Washington University’s accounting society – the VITA program will be available from Feb. 7 through April 15.
VITA is focused on helping low-income, student, and retiree taxpayers navigate tax season and answer any questions community members may have. Appointments can be made online through the VITA website. VITA services are free, and the only things participants have to bring are the required documents, forms and ID for their return.
Before volunteers start a return, an interview determines if the VITA program is qualified to help the taxpayer, Alexandria Velder said, a volunteer tax preparer for VITA. Qualified taxpayers are people who make low to middle income and haven’t invested in certain complicated stocks.
After that, a volunteer will perform the necessary steps to file the taxpayer’s return using TaxSlayer Pro, an online tax resource. TaxSlayer Pro helps volunteers so that they do not have to do every calculation by hand.
VITA volunteers are made up largely of Western students who go through special IRS training, Velder said. After training, prospective volunteers take three exams. These include an ethics exam, an interview exam and an overall exam that ensures each volunteer knows how to use the program correctly.
“We have a really really high acceptance rate in terms of when we file returns with the IRS,” VITA Coordinator Ruby LeClair said. “They usually have no mistakes.” She also said the VITA program puts an emphasis on security.
Anyone can become a volunteer. The training resources are made for anyone to understand, not just people familiar with taxes like accounting students.
“Even learning just basic tax knowledge has really made it feel like I've expanded my mind to some extent,” Velder said.
Although VITA is a community resource for any person who qualifies, students are especially likely to need help as many of them have never done taxes before.
“We have a lot of people who come to get their taxes done who are students, which is kind of cool,” LeClair said. “Western students helping other Western students.”
Third-year Naomi Meredith said she feels stress filing her taxes and often calls her mom for help.
“It's tedious and not as straightforward as I think it could be,” she said.
Online resources such as TurboTax are popular but don’t answer some questions necessary for confused taxpayers. VITA provides a comprehensive service to those that need explanations.
“Taxes can be kind of complicated for college students, and there's a lot of questions and a lot of unknowns,” said Natalie Hrabik, an employee at H&R Block. “Who claims them? Do you claim yourself? Do your parents claim you? Are you taking education credits and deductions?”
Many college students are eligible for education credits. The IRS offers the Lifetime Learning Credit and the American Opportunity Tax Credit. For qualified students, the LLC is worth up to $2,000 per tax return, and the AOTC can give up to $2,500 in annual credit, according to the IRS.
People who do their taxes on their own but still have questions can call or leave a voicemail with the VITA volunteers.
“I used to be kind of scared of doing taxes too, and I think all the volunteers were nervous at first,” LeClair said. “Once you try to learn a little bit it gets so much easier, and it’s really not as scary as you would think.”
Simone Higashi (she/her) is a third-year News Editorial student and senior reporter for The Front. Simone likes to knit and read in her free time. You can reach her at simonehigashi.thefront@gmail.com.
