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Orionna Brumfield
MC301 Contributor/Staff
The Jackson State University Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program continues to serve the JSU community with free income tax assistance.
The program, in its fourth year, is supported by United Way and provides quality service without extra fees.
“We’ve provided 24 hours of tax law training and income tax preparation to JSU student volunteers, certified over 30 student volunteers to serve at local sites, provided over 40 hours of free income tax preparation services to JSU Community, and provided over 60 hours of community service opportunity for student volunteers” said Donald McWilliams, an instructor of accounting at JSU and Certified Public Accountant.
According to www.irs.gov, The VITA program offers free tax help to people who generally make $53,000 or less, persons with disabilities, and the elderly and limited English speaking taxpayers, who need assistance in preparing their own tax returns.
“The IRS picked the accounting program for students to serve the community doing the taxes. In return, the students receive community service hours,” said McWilliams.
Students who do taxes are required to attend mandatory certified training. The two 12 hour training sessions began last November.
“We use the same system that places such as H&R Block would use,” said McWilliams.
Le’Keisha Thompson, a senior accounting major from Jackson, Miss. is one of the VITA volunteers.
“I became involved in this program through the Accounting Society here on campus. The Accounting Society always participates in this program as well as many other activities throughout the year,” said Thompson.
In order to file, customers need a valid i.d., social security card, all income documents, and routing information for direct deposits.
“We operate on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday” said McWilliams.
The free income tax program will continue until March 21, 2015.
Michael Washington has used the JSU VITA services and was pleased with the customer’s service.
“You can save money from going to other places,” said Washington, a junior civil engineering major from St. Louis, Mo.
According to McWilliams, the program has successfully assisted clients in acquiring over $338,795 in federal refunds and $25,500 in state refunds. They have provided an estimated $12,825 – $22,000 in free services.
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