Accountancy Students Serve the Community through VITA

During February, March and April, Department of Accountancy students assisted fellow students and members of the greater Long Beach community with their 2008 tax returns through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. VITA is a cooperative effort by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to provide income tax assistance to low and moderate-income individuals, the handicapped and the elderly. The volunteers are trained to prepare basic income tax returns free of charge at VITA sites.

“Our VITA program has been running for several years, and it’s really a great program. It’s sponsored by the IRS but funded through the campus’ Beta Alpha Psi and Accounting Society,” said Charmaine Baird, a senior accounting major and member of Beta Alpha Psi. “Our program helps many students on campus and people from the community who cannot afford to use a paid preparer to get their taxes filed, or who just need help. At the same time, the program gives student volunteers valuable experience that can further help them to attain full-time employment in the accounting field.”

Baird noted that this year the campus VITA program had 48 volunteers who were trained and certified by the IRS to prepare and E-file basic income tax and foreign student tax returns. Working in shifts, they were available for drop-in appointments 12 hours a day, Monday through Friday, and on weekends in the College of Business Administration’s Instructional Technology Lab. They began preparing returns on Feb. 2 and assisted 436 residents and 130 non-residents for a total of 566 returns completed by their April 10 deadline.