For those wishing for death over taxes USU aims to help
The only two certainties in life are death and taxes, and USU is aiming to help with the latter. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is an annual program put on at sites all across the nation to help low-income families and individuals, such as students, file their taxes.
The honor society Beta Alpha Psi is the organization that supports and promotes the program on campus. Clinton Allen, a graduate student in accounting, said the training is intensive but it gives students valuable experience with filing taxes of all kinds.
“We teach students how to prepare taxes, the obstacles they might face, the software we use and the rules,” Allen said.
Allen has been president of Beta Alpha Psi since June, and said the program at Utah State is well known throughout the country.
“We have had 33 years of reaching superior excellence, which is the longest running streak in the country,” he said.
Superior excellence, Allen said, means the club has reached certain expectations every year. The group participates in service, such as the Adopt A Highway program,and the VITA program, and they have events such as meeting accounting firms.
“The focus of Beta Alpha Psi is to help students make the transition from student to professional,” Allen said. “It gives students the extra opportunity to make connections, and to learn more about what they’re doing.”
Membership in Beta Alpha Psi is much like other honor societies – admittance is based on GPA, a learning period and an applicable major.
Beta Alpha Psi sponsors the VITA program, and Carson Young, senior in accounting and VITA committee member, said the opportunity is invaluable and a win-win situation.
“It’s a chance to gain real world experience,” he said. “We get to serve other students, and it’s free for them.”
Young said he went through the first half of training in 2010, but this will be his first year as an active volunteer in the program. He said the goal of the VITA program is to get everyone involved.
“We want to get the science people involved, the arts people involved, because tax preparation is something you have to do at least once a year for the rest of your life,” Young said.
The program is on campus to serve all students as well as community members, Allen said. The program is in place to assist students and community members with basic returns, as well as international students.
“Each student who comes here from another country has a financial obligation to pay taxes,” Allen said. “But each country has different provisions with the U.S. So that’s how we help.”
Beta Alpha Psi adviser Bonnie Villarreal said this year the program is waiting to do international student’s taxes in order to allow volunteers time to accustom themselves to software and taxes.
“We will start helping non-resident students on the 26th of February,” she said. “We’re doing this so we can give them accurate service.”
The VITA program has approximately 75 volunteers this year, Villarreal said.
“Each of the volunteers is somewhere between just getting their feet wet to advanced in tax preparation,” she said.
Beta Alpha Psi sponsored two training sessions, where an IRS representative taught the volunteers about tax law, and volunteers learned to use the software to file returns. Steve Jones, IRS community representative, said he mostly teaches students the basics of tax law, and the time it takes to teach the students varies.
“Most students from USU are in Beta Alpha Psi and already have some experience,” Jones said.
Bill Brunson, a media contact at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), said the VITA program was established in the late ‘60s, when Congress told the IRS to provide assistance to the community because of the complexity of the tax code. Brunson said this is when VITA and Tax Consulting for the Elderly (TCE, a division of AARP) were created.
“Basically both are to fill a need of moderate- to low-income people, who can’t afford to pay for tax assistance,” he said.
Larry Walthers, accounting department head, said Beta Alpha Psi is one of three programs the school offers. The other two are the Financial Planning Association and the Institute of Management Accountants.
Walthers said the accounting program is more important in the region than the public realizes.
“We have national importance within our region,” he said. “Our average GMAT score for incoming students in our graduate program is 623. Our vision school, the University of Florida, had an average GMAT score of 617.”
Walthers said the best thing about the accounting program is the small size and student access to professors.
“Public school, private touch,” Walthers said.
Walthers said he teaches students that there are four steps to success in accounting: A strong technical background, high ethical values, relationships and networks and persistence.
“A lot of what we do in the accounting groups is foster those relationships, and create those networks,” he said.
The three different honor societies in the accounting program each cater to a different type of accounting, and therefore are specialized in the networks students create.
The VITA program is being offered in different areas around Logan. The Beta Alpha Psi society is sponsoring the program on campus in the Business building, rooms 118 and 120, Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Tuesdays from 5-9 p.m.
In Logan, the Division of Workforce Services, Bridgerland Literacy and the Bear River Association of Governments all have hours to assist community members with their taxes through the VITA program. To schedule an appointment with a community organization, call 211.
– april.ashland@aggiemail.usu.edu