VITA Tax Program

[SensibleandHourly]

Hello, 

I seem to remember bits of discussion in the past about the VITA? Program. A community member has asked if I would be consider being part of a volunteer program to assist low-income clients complete their tax return in a library setting. I sense an insurance/liability nightmare but wondered if others have navigated such a landscape. 

Thank you, 

Dawn 

[IRonMaN]

It's a good program to help out folks, but I am too busy trying to get returns out for my own clients to volunteer my time to do that.  But food for thought ---- how are your paying clients going to feel when they hear that you spend time down at the local library preparing returns for free when you charge them for the same services?

[BobKamman]

It takes a lot of federal tax money to keep those volunteers working. 

"The IRS on Dec. 2 awarded $53 million in Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) grants for 2025 to organizations that provide free federal tax return preparation."

https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2024/12/10/irs-53-million-in-tce-and-vita-grants-awarded-for-2025... 

[George4Tacks]

I did the AARP Tax-Aide one year. It is a similar program, with the same training and software. At that time = you must go through their training, regardless of how knowledgeable you are. You use their computers which are property of the IRS (if I remember correctly) and are directly filed with IRS. The hours were 10 to 2, which really gobbled up the whole day. It was upstairs in a an big room with probably a dozen preparers sitting in long tables with the clients across from them. Definitely a great program that really needs the volunteers. 

This is from their site https://www.irs.gov/individuals/irs-tax-volunteers IMHO - It is NOT a road to building a tax practice, if that is your goal. 

"Tax Preparer – You complete and successfully certify in tax law training, including the use of electronic filing software, to provide free tax return preparation for eligible taxpayers."