Accounting student VITA volunteers

Donna Marcus, CSM accounting instructor and coordinator of CSM’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), reports that the program had a very successful tax season.

Twenty-eight students who completed a 24-hour income tax training program assisted in the completion of 236 electronic returns and two paper returns.

The majority of the returns were for students but the clients also included members of the community; 32 of the clients were over the age of 60.

Forty percent of the returns were prepared for individuals who had 2008 returns prepared by VITA students.

Students did an outstanding job and gained a great deal of experience. Due to the large group of accounting students participating, three worked at another volunteer site and received additional experience as a result. In addition, several students over the past two years have become AARP volunteers helping in the community.

The VITA project is supported by a collaboration of CSM, United Way of the Bay Area, and the IRS.