Students at The University of Texas at El Paso are once again providing valuable community service by pairing up with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program to offer free tax help to those who might otherwise struggle to accurately and affordably file their returns. According to UTEP, this initiative, in its tenth year, not only assists underserved populations but also furnishes accounting students with practical tax experience.
The VITA program, funded by an IRS grant and administered by GECU, is crucial in helping to prevent tax fraud and ensure accurate tax filing. Both the IRS-trained volunteers and the qualifying taxpayers are set to benefit from this partnership, students can swiftly gain experience and taxpayers can safely navigate through the complex tax process. "It’s an honor for UTEP to participate in a program that helps our region so much and that is also a transformative experience for our students," said Sarah Robertson, assistant professor of accounting and information systems at UTEP, as reported by UTEP.
In the previous year, the initiative completed over 13,000 tax returns, which saved the local community nearly $28 million in fees. With UTEP being the only certified site in El Paso to assist non-resident foreign scholars, its reach extends to a unique group that might otherwise be overlooked. "One of my cousins was the victim of a predatory tax preparer, and the whole ordeal caused her a significant amount of stress," Eduardo Torres, an accounting senior and volunteer, shared by UTEP.
