VITA - Volunteering

WHY VOLUNTEER AT A FREE TAX SITE?

It makes a big difference for hard-working families in our community!

DC Connect FREE Taxes-VITA is a local Volunteer Income Tax Assistance IRS program partner, providing free, volunteer-prepared tax preparation and electronic filing (preferred by the IRS) to individuals and families with annual incomes up to $55,000. Tax refunds that include the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) are an important resource for hard-working families, helping them to get ahead financially, pay down debt and work toward saving for the future.

At VITA sites, IRS-trained and certified volunteers prepare and electronically file state and federal income tax forms at no charge and determine a taxpayer’s qualifications for tax credits and refunds. We help our clients avoid predatory fees and financial products offered by the for-profit tax preparation industry that targets low-income households with the largest tax refunds.

Since 2004 Davidson County VITA site volunteers have prepared over 28,000 tax returns, saving our clients $5.6 million in avoided tax preparation fees (based on a national average of $200 per return) and returning more than $33 million in federal tax refunds to our community. Sign up to be a VITA volunteer and put more tax refund money in the pockets of our hard-working taxpayers.

We’re seasonal, of course, and primarily an afternoon program, though we do a few Saturdays. Our primary sites are in Lexington, Thomasville, and Denton.

TAX SITE ROLES

Tax Preparer: Prepare income tax returns using TaxSlayer Online software, communicate with clients regarding any tax documents that are missing, quality review the work of other volunteers (if experienced). (The IRS requires that all returns are quality reviewed by another preparer before they are transmitted.)
Greeter: Sign taxpayers in at the tax site and get them started filling out their Intake Form.

Spanish Interpreter:  Assist in translating languages for both volunteers and filers.

IF YOU HAVE THESE SKILLS…

Experience using computers
Time to commit at least five hours per week from late-January until mid-April; and,
Strong interpersonal and verbal communication skills, in English or Spanish.

WE’LL PROVIDE ALL THE TRAINING YOU NEED!

Get started now with IRS year-round training: https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/ .
Choose Certification Paths, then Basic (or Advanced if you’ve done other returns in the past).
Use this link to “play” in a free public version of our tax software: www.myfreetaxes.com . It will be open until October 15.

VITA IS A MEANINGFUL, UNIQUE EXPERIENCE FOR VOLUNTEERS; YOU WILL:

Learn valuable, lifelong skills;

Obtain an IRS certification to build your resume; and,
Make a difference in the community where you live by empowering our hard-working neighbors to access important tax refunds at no cost.