SUU has been sponsoring a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance / Tax Council for the Elderly center for many years. This is a program established by the IRS meant to provide free tax preparation services to members of the community. SUU provides not only a location for this service but also student volunteers as well as a student director (which is myself). These students must go through a certification process to be qualified to work as tax preparers and reviewers. There is a lot of work put in by the students to become certified on top of all the hours they work in the VITA Center. The center serves a large demographic of clients. We serve students, low income families, the elderly, and many more.
Filing taxes is a required by law for almost everyone. However, most people cannot do it themselves and do not have the resources to pay to have it done for them. The service we provide in the VITA center not only relieves this burden for them, by preparing and filing their taxes for free, but also provides a place for them to receive free tax planning/consulting services.
This service also provides a great benefit to the student volunteers in the form of valuable experience. The students that staff the VITA center all almost all Accounting Majors with plans to work in the Accounting field. Through the VITA program they are able to gain real life, hands on experience that many other students never get.
