The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is a national program providing free assistance to low income, elderly, limited English proficient, and disabled individuals who require assistance in preparing their tax returns and cannot afford services of a paid professional taxpayer. Generally, the program provides services to low-income tax payers having gross income of no more than $45,000 per year. VITA volunteers rae not subject to liability regarding return preparation.
The VITA program is typically operated at schools, colleges, community centers, public libraries, and various other locations that are easitly accessible to the community. The number of shifts and the time and days a site is open to the public are discretionary decisions for each program. The time constraints are minimal with volunteer donating as much or as little as they wish. The sites generally operate between mid-January and continue until April 15th, the end of the tax season.
Volunteers are trained through an instructional seminar with materials provided free of charge by the IRS. Volunteers learn basic tax preparation techniques and technology, enabling them to easily handle most returns, or at least know where to find the answer to a taxpayer's particular issue, in the IRS quick reference guides.
A tax background is NOT required. Complex returns are not prepared at VITA sites.Volunteers are welcome to volunteer as many or as few hours as they are available, though the IRS prefers a minimum of 3 hours per shift.
All assistance is greatly appreciated and makes a big impact on many lives in your local community.VITA is a service sponsored by the IRS and is locally administered by the Indianapolis Asset Building Campaign. The AGA Indianapolis Chapter promotes participation in VITA by linking volunteers to the program and facilitating on-site training.
How Can I Volunteer?
There are two ways to receive the training required to become a volunteer: On-Site training and Link & Learn online training.
On-Site Training Course – The AGA Indianapolis Chapter will sponsor an on-site training course on January 20-21, 2009. The course will be held in Classroom C (3rd Floor South) at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. To register for the on-site training course, please register to volunteer by filling out a Volunteer application. The first day (January 20) will be a required tax law training course. The second day (January 23) is optional and will consist of a 4-hour Military module and a 4-hour Tax Wise software training module (highly recommended). DFAS civilian participants must take approved leave to participate in this training opportunity. After completing this course, you will have the training required for volunteer tax preparation.
Link & Learn Taxes e-Learning Course – The IRS designed this online training opportunity for individuals and groups who volunteer their time and knowledge to help fellow taxpayers
complete their tax returns. This course will guide you through the basics of tax law and tax form preparation so that you'll be able to answer frequently asked questions, and help other
taxpayers accurately complete their 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ returns.
If you are unable to attend any of the training classes or complete the online training, you may still be able to volunteer. The VITA tax preparation sites need a few volunteers to pre-screen individuals to make sure they meet the qualifications to receive the free service. These opportunities are limited though and volunteers should make every attempt to complete some form of the tax preparation training.