By Scott B. Wong
Daily Bruin Staff
After more than an hour of tax consultation, Michelle Harris
described her experience of filing income taxes as
“painful.”
Harris, an employee at the UCLA Center for Health Policy
Research, said she usually has her accountant file her taxes or
takes them to H & R Block, a certified tax and financial
service provider.
But since her taxes were simple this year, a friend recommended
she try the UCLA Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.
VITA, a non-profit group offering free basic tax services, pairs
those who need help filing federal and state income tax returns
with student volunteers trained by the Internal Revenue
Service.
“I think it’s valuable as long as they stay in the
realm of basic taxes,” Harris said. “Being in the
learning process, (volunteers) have up-to-date information I may
not have.”
More complicated matters like stock dividends and property
taxes, however, Harris said she’d rather entrust to her
accountant.
Through April 16, the deadline for Americans to file tax
returns, approximately 50 UCLA taxpayers will be matched with 10 to
20 volunteers daily, said Lisa Wong, a VITA coordinator.
Potential volunteers must attend a two-hour class each week
during winter quarter taught by IRS instructors.
According to Wong, VITA coordinators are required to review
every tax return before they are submitted.
“We don’t want to mess up people’s tax
returns,” said Wong, a third-year international economics
student. “If there’s a question we can’t answer,
then we direct them to the IRS.”
“We don’t want them to be audited because of
us,” she added.
Wong said the type of people seeking help ranges from students
to staff members.
“A lot are non-resident students, teaching assistants,
researchers, but mostly students filing for the first
time,”she said.
While H & R Block on Westwood Boulevard estimates it would
cost a student around $71 for basic income tax consultation, VITA
offers its services free of charge.
Catherine Huey, a second-year biology student, said she signed
up for VITA because it’s free.
“I’m not positive I have to file my income taxes at
all, so I’m confirming whether I do or I don’t,”
Huey said.
“I’ve filled out most of my forms and am making sure
they’re correct,” she added.
After about an hour of consultation, Huey said the process was
very thorough and that the volunteers were patient and helpful.
“I did put a few numbers in the wrong line, because
there’s so much verbiage involved,” she said.
“But they confirmed and clarified everything.”
Like many students, Carmen Chamorro said she used to send her
income tax information home to her parents come tax season, but
she’s tackling them on her own this year.
“Usually I would hand my W-2s to my mom, but I’ll be
graduating this year and I’ll be out in the real
world,” said Chamorro, a fifth-year American literature
student.
This year, 140 students passed the IRS-administered test,
according to Wong.
Because the test for VITA volunteers is “take-home,”
fourth-year business economics student Brandy Gros questioned
whether the IRS-sponsored program could be improved upon.
“I think it’s what people put into it,” Gros
said. “Training is sufficient for certain people ““
those who don’t take it seriously or don’t take the
test on their own can be detrimental to the program,” she
said.
According to Gros, most student tax returns are really
simple.
“When volunteers are apprehensive, they can work in
pairs,” Gros said. “For more difficult cases,
coordinators take care of that.”
A VITA volunteer for the past three years, Gros said the program
provided a hands-on opportunity to ensure accounting was a wise
career-move.
“I wanted experience in it before I committed to this
profession,” she said.
For those who can’t afford or don’t need
professional help, VITA would be a good outlet, Gros said.
The IRS trained VITA volunteers on how to file federal
non-resident tax forms, but not California non-resident tax forms,
according to Gros.
She said time constraints may have prevented volunteers from
receiving adequate training.
“Time which instructors spent on how to prepare
non-resident federal returns was limited,” she said.
Ranier Figge, a post-doctorate student of biochemistry and a
non-resident from Germany, said he had a question on whether he
must declare a fellowship grant.
After volunteers shuffled through tax manuals and consulted with
coordinators, Figge was referred to the VITA hotline, which
provides taxpayers with additional information volunteers may not
have.
Between filing taxes and referring taxpayers to other services,
VITA volunteers will be keeping busy this week, Wong said.
“We’ll be here until late next Monday, because
people put it off so long,” she said.
UCLA VITA will be available on a walk-in basis in 3516 Ackerman,
12-6 p.m. weekdays until April 16.