With the ever-changing state of tax standards, it is harder than ever to make sense of the whole process. The United Way of Albany County recently put on a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) session in the Albany County Public Library. One individual to attend the event was Rodney Richter, who said he had trouble filing.
“I had already done my taxes on the computer with Tax Act, but I had them do it because there were some new things this year, 1099 forms, HSA, FSA, and all this different stuff that I had never dealt with before,” said Richter. “I wanted to have a second opinion on what I was doing because it just seemed really weird this year and it’s a good thing because I thought I was getting $2800 and I got $3800.”
The United Way of Albany County provides the service on several days up until April 14. The deadline to file taxes for individuals is April 15. The service is provided for anybody with a household income of $55,000 or less, including students.
Paul Heimer, the executive director of The United Way of Albany County, runs the VITA site with his staff of volunteers. According to Heimer, the organization performed a total of 701 returns, with at least $800,000 in refunds and saved approximately $100,000 in tax preparation fees last year. He adds that they are able to do out of state returns as well. They hold a total of 22 sessions throughout the tax season.
Heimer said the work experience opportunity created by the program is a beneficial learning experience for students.
“For the accounting students, this is fantastic because they are getting the opportunity to do real life returns with real life folks in a real life situation and they’re expected to do it accurately, professionally and it’s a professional set up where the returns are reviewed,” Heimer said.
The program trains roughly 45 volunteers a year, Heimer said. The volunteers need no prior experience and go through a one-day training program.
One such volunteer is Fred Basitov, an accounting student at UW. This is Basitov’s second year of being a volunteer for VITA.
“I think the main reason I volunteer is the contribution, because I am a student at the University of Wyoming and I’m getting scholarships, I’m getting grants, all that stuff and I felt an obligation to pay back to the community,” said Basitov. He cosigns on the value of the experience gained from volunteering for VITA, especially for accounting students such as himself.
For additional information about the United Way of Albany and VITA contact Paul Heimer at pheimer@unitedwayalbanycounty.org.
