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What is VITA?
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is an outreach program started in 1969 and facilitated by the Internal Revenue Service. VITA offers free tax assistance for low to moderate-income taxpayers who cannot prepare their own tax returns nor can afford services from a professional tax preparer. Various sponsoring organizations across the United States recruit and train volunteers who then prepare returns in their local communities.
In 2005, about 100,000 volunteers prepared 1.8 million tax returns at nearly 14,000 sites. The Baruch VITA Program was one of the largest university-sponsored VITA Programs nation-wide.
VITA at BaruchCollege
The VITA Program is the largest volunteer opportunity program available to Baruch students. Every year since 1991, 150-350 Baruch students and alumni participate in the program. Baruch"s program is unique because it is the only university-based program that operates external sites in Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Manhattan in addition to our home site at Baruch College. Baruch, being ranked as the most diverse college in the United States, has a special advantage in serving immigrants who have little or no understanding of English language.
Alpha Gamma Chapter runs one of the biggest VITA programs in the nation. According to the 2004 IRS Annual Report, the national average is about 7 volunteers per site. We have surpassed this average by at least 20 times every year since 1998.
Growth and Improvements
In the tax season 2005-2006 the Baruch VITA Program underwent a major restructuring and in return experienced a drastic increase in both quantity and quality. The number of volunteers grew from about 170 in 2004-2005 to more than 250 in 2005-2006. More amazingly, the number of tax returns prepared increased by 240%! Also, electronic filling was introduced at the Baruch site for the first time. At the same time, all returns were now required to be quality reviewed by at least one site manager, which also greatly decreased the number of errors made.
The Momentum
The most sweeping changes included creating training materials from scratch to incorporate examples, practice questions, and a comprehensive problem and facilitate interactive learning. Students were trained in smaller groups by tax professionals (CPAs and tax professors) as opposed to a lecture in an auditorium. Students were also required to pass a take-home exam with three sample tax returns, and received personalized feedback. With all the positive momentum from 2006, growing national recognition of VITA Program excellence at Baruch, and strong support from the college administration and Beta Alpha Psi, the trend will continue in 2007 and beyond.
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