Since the end of January, thirty-three Ferrum College accounting and business students have assisted with STEP’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program along with the College’s own VITA site. The VITA sites provide FREE online tax preparation assistance to families and individuals usually earning less than $57,000 annually. As trained and certified volunteers, the students are able to prepare most standard IRS documents (i.e. 1040) and submit returns electronically. They will also help their clients take advantage of the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and more.
In addition, the VITA program will offer two self-service options that will allow taxpayers to prepare and file their own return online, while having access to the VITA volunteers who can answer questions throughout the process.
“Our students put in a tremendous amount of effort to learn the new tax laws and regulations to properly prepare tax returns for our clients,” says Sadie Wallace, assistant professor of accounting and VITA program director at Ferrum College, who notes that they have prepared more than 100 returns already this season. “This program would not be successful without the countless hours of commitment and dedication the students put in to help serve the Ferrum College community and the surrounding areas.”
To get started with the Ferrum College VITA program and have your taxes prepared and submitted by program volunteers, please visit https://bit.ly/Ferrum-College-VITA-Program or call (540)365-4259.
To participate in the self-service option to prepare and file your taxes yourself while having access to VITA volunteers who can answer your questions, visit TaxAct (for those who make less than $65,000 and are under the age of 56) here https://www.taxact.com/ffa/vita or Online Taxes (for those who make $73,000 or less) here https://www.olt.com/main/VITA/getstarted.asp.
The filing deadline to submit 2021 tax returns or an extension to file and pay tax owed is Monday, April 18, 2022, for most taxpayers. However, to take advantage of the VITA services, the deadline to submit documents for preparation is April 8, 2022.
Those taking advantage of this volunteer program should have all tax-related documents, including W-2s, photo identification, last year’s tax return, and social security cards for themselves and dependents.
