VITA Volunteer Income Tax Assistance

• The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program at Montana State University has offered free tax assistance to students and members of the Bozeman community for nearly 30 years.
  • 2012 VITA Sessions and Info
  • News article about MSU's VITA program
  • CoB students spend spring break preparing taxes
  • Accounting Students volunteer in Alaska
     
• Senior and graduate accounting students, who have taken one or more tax classes, go through a special training program and pass an exam prior to preparing tax returns for low-income individuals. The accounting students gain real world experience while providing a valuable service to the community.
   
• Although some of the tax returns prepared by the students are quite basic, others involve education credits, small businesses, rental property, IRA conversions, multiple states, and a host of other issues.
   
• VITA participants also help international students and scholars, who must file a complex tax return for nonresident aliens. In preparing tax returns for international individuals, the accounting students must determine if there are treaty benefits with specific countries that allow some or all of the income received in the U.S. to be exempt from federal income taxes.
   
• Accounting professor Anne Christensen coordinates the MSU VITA program. The program is sponsored by the College of Business and Beta Alpha Psi.
  
  
  
  Check out the video of the MSU accounting students who went to Alaska over spring break through the VITA program:

(courtesy of Jennifer Larson)