The Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program’s outpost at Temple has begun filing free federal and state tax returns for the 2024 fiscal year, continuing its long streak of volunteer tax preparation and student credit opportunities.
VITA is designed to aid families and individuals who have disabilities, limited English understanding or make less than $67,000 a year — an income requirement that was increased from $60,000 last year.
“The program is ostensibly, officially for low to moderate income individuals and families, which does cover most Temple students if you’re working part time jobs or on-campus jobs and not making much money,” said Steven Balsam, chair of the accounting department and the program site coordinator for VITA. “You’re likely to be dependent on your parents’ return, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to file or that you shouldn’t file.”
Around 20 to 25 volunteers, including current students and alumni, help file, review and complete tax returns at both Main Campus and Temple Ambler. Both programs are by appointment on Wednesday or Saturday afternoons between now and April 9.
Individuals and families who want to file their taxes can email vita@temple.edu to set up an appointment time for Wednesdays or Saturdays. If neither option works, Balsam’s office takes tax returns in Alter Hall the other days of the week, where a student worker will complete the intake forms and collect information for the volunteers to go through later.
Balsam started the program 18 years ago after students encouraged him to start the service at Temple. Students can receive three credit hours by volunteering with the program. Approximately two-thirds of the current student volunteers work through Balsam’s three-credit course.
“[Other tax courses] are by a course management system, you practice things, but you don’t practice with real people, but you don’t practice interactions,” Balsam said. “You know, try it out, and if you find out that you never want to do a tax return again in your life, then you’ve learned something.”
Temple VITA completed nearly 700 tax returns last year across both campuses and are aiming to complete around the same this year. However, volunteership has been down around 25% in recent years due to many students taking accounting internships, which many students prefer since it can lead to a full-time job offer down the line, Balsam said.
On the other hand, Canyi Wu, a master’s student in the accounting department and a reviewer for VITA, believes the experience has helped her professionally.
“Before this, the only experience I had was being a peer tutor at Temple, and the amount of rejection letters I got was crazy,” Wu said. “After joining VITA, for just one term, I put it on my resume and I got all these interviews. At some level, I believe VITA helped me get my jobs.”
Any volunteer has to pass IRS-certified exams to be able to file taxes. Returning volunteers or faculty can become reviewers, who certify the volunteers’ returns are filed correctly. Since it’s a free clinic, volunteers can take the time to talk through the return with the clients.
With a handful of students who do the program, the volunteers create a sense of community whether they work at Main Campus or the Ambler campus. Last year, Balsam took the group to a Phillies game once the tax season was completed.
“I think the Phillies won 9-0, which could have explained it, but nobody was watching the game,” Balsam said. “Everybody was just mingling in the back and talking and taking group pictures. It builds the kind of community that I don’t see elsewhere.”
Students can volunteer at the clinic even if they’re not enrolled in Balsam’s course. Since the tax season and the program ends in early-mid April, students have one less course to worry about for final exams.
“It’s such a great learning opportunity for people who, even if you’re not interested in accounting, doing a tax return is something that everyone should know how to do,” said Adam Seibert, a senior accounting major and two-time volunteer for VITA. “It’s something where you have responsibility, but it’s not like you’re on your own, there’s a whole support system. It’s something I couldn’t recommend more.”
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