By NICHOLAS MOORE
Business Manager
Tax season has officially started, with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) accepting and processing returns since Monday, Jan. 27, running until Tax Day, April 15. During this time, everyone across the United States who receives tax forms is responsible for filing returns on the federal and state level, including college students who work. One problem with this process is that those with low income or have never done a tax return will run into trouble finding someone whom they can pay to do their returns.
Enter the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA), created by the IRS to support individuals with low income or disabilities to have their taxes prepared for free by volunteers. The program’s design was to incentivize individuals who can benefit from tax credits or are likely to receive refunds to file their returns. Students fall under this list due to mostly working part-time, and having very little of their income taxable, resulting in receiving a return when they file.
The closest site to Saint Rose is Catholic Charities, located on 40 North Main Ave. The site hosts community volunteers and Saint Rose students through a class run by Saint Rose Professor Barry Hughes. Hughes, also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), works with Andrew Kochian, Catholic Charities site coordinator, to give students a glimpse of what kind of work they will experience if they pursue becoming a CPA; however, the program is open to anyone willing to put in the work and pass the certification tests.
The certification tests, while tricky, are designed to be friendly to new volunteers while still applying the concepts they learn in training sessions.
“I’m not a good test taker, so it was a little intimidating, but it ends up that the tests are a lot harder than what you generally do,” said Karen Polarolo, a new VITA volunteer.
Polarolo has completed basic training and will continue to do basic level returns throughout the tax season, although she is not a student nor an employee of the IRS. The work that she and all other volunteers do, even greeters, streamlines the process and allows for up to what Kochian said he hopes to be about 50 returns during Sunday appointments.
“You’re going to meet people you can really help, and I don’t think there’s a better feeling than that,” said Hughes. “With taxes, it’s not always about the wealthy people, there are people you may run into with a child that get a nice refund back, and that’s a great great feeling when you can help people out [financially].”
Kochian, who has been the site coordinator for two years, oversees all volunteers through both the class and internships offered through Saint Rose and individuals throughout the community who assist with volunteering. His position requires him to not only ensure all volunteers follow correct procedures, but also requires him to file all returns at the site electronically, and to ensure that the IRS accepts the returns and the information provided is accurate with the taxpayer’s forms.
Kochian said that during his time volunteering for the program, he observed that students are not taking advantage of the program and its benefits.
“A lot of times, college students legally don’t need to file a return, but they should [anyway] because they can get back all of the money they had withheld from their paychecks,” said Kochian. Since students are covered under the scope of the VITA program (disabled, less than $56,000 in earnings, or limited English proficiency), anyone who needs the assistance in filing a return is urged to call the 211 hotline, which can be used to book an appointment for any certified VITA site.
