Weber State University’s School of Accounting & Taxation is offering students the opportunity to connect with a professional to file their tax returns this year, free of charge.
Eric Smith, WSU professor of taxation, along with Darcie Costello, WSU associate professor of accounting, co-direct WSU’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site in partnership with the IRS. The program allows students to sit down with a tax expert and file their tax returns for free, a service that often costs $100 or more.
WSU’s VITA site is operated by 14 student volunteers from WSU’s taxation and accounting school, who participate in exchange for school credit and a chance to gain experience relevant to their future careers in accounting.
“We run a really high-quality site; we don’t make mistakes,” Costello said. “Student volunteers prepare the return, and a second set of eyes, either a master’s student or faculty member, reviews the return before it is submitted to the IRS.”
The undergraduate students who volunteer in the program get the chance to hone their skills as tax experts through this experiential learning opportunity, according to Smith and Costello.
“We hear a lot at Weber State about experiential learning, and this is, to me, the most significant experiential learning experience these students can have,” Smith said. “We’re viewing it as both a community service and a really important element of our accounting experience because we’re giving students the opportunity to experience what the profession is really like.”
Costello and Smith said volunteering for WSU’s VITA program gives accounting students a chance to apply the tax skills they’ve learned in the classroom in a professional context, working with real clients to file real tax returns.
“Part of the beauty of experiential learning is that students have to build critical thinking skills and figure things out on the spot,” Costello said.
According to Smith and Costello, every tax prep session they’ve held has been completely booked, and reservations for the remaining sessions are filling quickly. So far, they estimate that they’ve filed over 100 tax returns through the program this year, with hopes to file 225 tax returns by the end of tax season.
Students who are currently unemployed are still encouraged to file their tax returns because of tax credits on out-of-pocket payments they’ve made toward their education.
“There very well could be a credit available to you if you have out-of-pocket tuition and fees paid, including books,” Smith said. “It would be worth their time to come to our VITA site because they may have hundreds of dollars worth of credits that they won’t get unless they file a return.”
WSU’s free tax prep sessions will be held at the WSU Community Education Center every Monday from 4 to 7 p.m. until the last session on April 14. Those interested need to schedule an appointment through the free tax prep webpage on WSU’s announcements page.
“This is such a unique thing where everybody gets to win,” Costello said. “The student volunteers win because they get to have this unique experience of doing this hands-on learning outside of a classroom. The community also benefits. It seems like everybody gets to win with the VITA program.”
