IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is an initiative sponsored by the Internal Revenue Service. Founded in 1971 by Gary Iskowitz at California State University, Northridge. Since the 1970s the program has blossomed to several thousand sites nationwide partnering with non-profit organizations, city governments, and major public universities to file millions of returns every year. In Tax Year 2015 3.7 million returns were filed with a 94% accuracy rate according to Frank Nolden, Director of Stakeholder Partnerships, Education, and Communication/SPEC. ^[1] The program is intended to service low to moderate-income tax payers, which the IRS has defined for the scope of the program as those individuals and families making less than $54,000 per year.

Returns are prepared by IRS tax law certified volunteers. Certificates in the program start at Basic, followed by Advanced, Health Savings Account/HSA, Military, International, Foreign Student, and Puerto Rico although may vary from partner to partner. Some military bases such as Like Air Force Base participate in the program in which IRS agents train service members to do military taxes. Due to the complexity of foreign students' returns, they are prepared at major public universities such as Arizona State University by more advanced experts. Volunteers learn tax software and tax law issues November to January of each year. One of the focal points of the VITA program is raising taxpayer awareness and receipt of the Earned Income Credit (EIC). The average refund for taxpayers claiming the Earned Income Credit was $2,450 as of 2015.^[2]

Scope of Service

As previously mentioned, all returns are required by the IRS to be prepared by certified volunteers. There are various tax law, and non-tax law related certifications. Each volunteer, whether they will be preparing tax returns or acting as a greeter, or intake specialist, is required to pass an ethics and code of conduct exam. Beyond that, those volunteers who wish to become tax preparers must further pass an exam relating to the intake and interview process and a basic tax law exam. There are a total of seven tax law certification exams. To be considered proficient, volunteer must score a minimum of 80 on an exam to receive a passing score. Certifications last for one tax year, then the preparer must renew their certification. The different tax law certification levels are:

Certifications	Parts of Tax Law Covered Not All Inclusive
Basic	- Filing and dependency status - Basic income, such as salaries & wages, interest, and dividends - Disability Income - The Earned Income Credit - Education Credits - Disability Income
Advanced	- Self-Employment Income - Calculating the taxable amount of retirement distributions - Sales of Stock, Bonds, or Real Estate and other Capital Transactions - Tip Income - Cancellation of Debt *Used to be its own certification - Marketplace Insurance, (Obamacare)
Puerto Rico I/II	- Income and deductions relating to Puerto Rican residents, and mainland US Residents with Puerto Rico sourced income
Health Savings Account	- Contributions and Distributions from Health Savings Accounts (HSA's) - Penalties for ineligible distributions
International	U.S. Citizens living abroad or with non-U.S. sourced income
Foreign Student	- Non-citizen students and scholars living in the United States on non-immigrant student visas.
Military	- Rental of home due to deployment or other ordered absence - Military Moving Expenses

There are also a number of tax topics that are "out-of-scope" for the program regardless of a tax preparer's certification. Even professionally licensed volunteers are prohibited from providing advice to taxpayers on out-of-scope topics in the capacity of a volunteer. A brief outline of the services provided by vita:

Can Prepare	Cannot Prepare
Forms 1040 (including 1040-EZ and 1040-A) – Federal Tax Return Schedule A – Itemized Deductions Schedule B – Interest and Dividends Schedule C/C-EZ – Business Expenses Simple Schedule D – Capital Gains and Losses Simple Schedule E for Royalties or income reported on Schedule K-1 Schedule EIC – Earned Income Credit Schedule SE – Self Employment Tax Form 2441 – Child Care Expenses Form 8863 – Education Credits Form 1040NR Most State Tax Forms Returns with K-1 Income, fiduciary pass-through's only Form 8889 & HSA's Schedule R	Schedule C – Business Expenses with: An overall loss to report Deductions for depreciation Deductions for business use of the home Complex Schedule D – Capital Gains and Losses Schedule E – Rental Income, except for military rental income Dual Status Tax Returns Income from pass-through entities including: S-Corporations ("Sub-S's") Partnerships Form 1120, 1041, or 1065 Schedule F - Farm Income Responses to IRS Notices for issues other than an amended return Tax Returns for taxpayers who have declared bankruptcy or intend to (Refer to professional) * Married Filing Separately may be treated as out of scope. * Tax For Certain Children with Unearned Income, or "Kiddie Tax" returns

References

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↑ . 2014-11-24 [VITA and EITC VITA and EITC] Check |url= value (help). Retrieved 2017-04-12. Missing or empty |title= (help)

1) IRS 4012 VITA/TCE Volunteer Resource Guide (2) IRS 4491 VITA/TCE Training Guide (Includes content for Military Certification) (3) IRS 5157A VITA/TCE Affordable Care Act Taxpayer Scenarios (4) IRS 4942 VITA/TCE Specialty Course-Health Savings Accounts (HSA) (5) https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/ (6) https://www.irs.gov/individuals/choose-your-tax-volunteer-role

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