By Tom Plessers
In Motion Staff Writer
With the end of the year nearing, a whole alphabet and numerical worth of documents will be found in the mail. Americans can’t run from it, they can’t hide from it. April 15 is coming.
Now, the race is on to navigate the endless labyrinth of tax law to ensure the best return. Many may file their own taxes, others seek assistance on websites and services. For those who can spare the extra change, accountants will have a field day crunching your numbers.
But for so many, filing taxes is certainly is not one of their strengths. It seems that for every rule there are dozens of exceptions. For every dollar made, there seems to be two dollars of taxes to be paid. Unless they’ve taken classes specializing in taxes or business, no one knows what applies to them, or how to turn a deficit into a profit.
According to the people who keep track of these things, in 1955 the tax code was almost 400,000 words long. Since then, it has bloomed to a whopping 2.4 million word. But truth be told, not even the tax experts know how long it is when they take into account other IRS regulations and the 60,000 pages of tax-related case law.
There has to be a solution. After all, this is a college. There must be knowledge and services students and staff can use for assistance. Now, thanks to the Center for Women & Men, Business Club volunteers and the Tax Preparation Class, there is.
Annually, starting in February until April 15, these organizations run a service for the IRS’s Volunteer Income Taxes Assistance program, or VITA for short. The Center of Women & Men host the site on campus and student volunteers from the Business Club will prepare taxes for free.
Wait, students preparing taxes? Is that even legal?
As explained by President of the Business Club, Augusta Thomas, “Everyone who volunteers with the VITA program is officially certified by the IRS.”
Given constant changes, updates and additions to taxes, all volunteers are re-trained every year to ensure they are certified for the current tax season.
But wait, there’s more!
This service has more to offer than just tax preparation. Of all the VITA sites, the one on campus offers additional resources for Daytona State College students.
Erin LeDuc, Director for the Center of Women & Men, points out, “To all students, and particularly student-parents, on our site, you can have your taxes prepared, fill out your FASFA by means of your taxes, and explore possibilities which may lead to health care, thanks to Joyce Case from the Health Planning Council.”
FASFA, the federal Free Application for Student Aid, is calculated by two means. The cost of attendance to the institution, including living expenses and the amount your family contributes to your education. To fill out FASFA successfully, information required is almost as daunting as those for taxes.
While attending Daytona State College, why not have both filled out on the same day and ensure the best possible future?
The service is not only available to all students, staff and faculty of Daytona State College, but VITA is also a federally run program by the IRS, therefor members of the community are more than welcome to stop by too.
At a VITA site, clients are met by a greeter who ensures required documentation is present, then they are assigned to a tax preparer, who will calculate the return based on all documents provided.
Augusta Thomas stresses that, “Make sure they bring their original, Social Security Card and government issued photo ID.”
At press time, there were no logistical details such as times or locations available because those involved are in the process of recertification and organization to ensure better service for the 2019 tax year.
Thomas recommends following the DSC Business club page on Facebook for updates on the program; and upcoming events. For information on VITA program, including a list of all the documents to bring, please visit www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-you-by-volunteers.