VITA GENERAL MEETING 11/11/12

AGENDA  INTRODUCTION  ICE BREAKER  GUEST SPEAKER  Q & A  UPCOMING EVENTS  VITA WEBSITE  COMMITTEE SIGN-UP

OFFICERS  PRESIDENT: XUAN DUONG  VICE PRESIDENT: JASMINE TONG  SECRETARY: JENNIFER HINH  CO-FINANCE DIRECTOR: TRO ACHEKIAN  CO-FINANCE DIRECTOR: FENG CHE  INTERNAL DIRECTOR: EUGENIA CHOW  CO-EXTERNAL DIRECTOR: CHRISTINE ZHANG  CO-EXTERNAL DIRECTOR: DANIEL BRUTON

ICE BREAKER

BACKGROUND  GUEST SPEAKER:  Mr. Christopher Doyal  Sr. Stakeholder Relationship Tax Consultant  Experience:  UCSD-Economics  8 years IRS  Worked at Taxpayer Assistance Center in San Diego, Chico, Santa Barbara  Worked with SPEC since 2009

6 Mission To assist our customers in satisfying their tax responsibilities by building and maintaining partnerships with key stakeholders and leveraging their resources to inform, educate and communicate with our customers. Stakeholder Partnerships, Education & Communication

7 Community- Based Organizations Tax Preparation Awareness and Education Asset BuildingPARTNERSHIP

8 Education (Information) Campaign  Promotional products for our partners  American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA)  Earned Income Tax Credit  Child Tax Credit  Electronic Filing (e-file)  Education Credits and Others

9  Most effective anti-poverty program  Lifts families out of poverty  Supplements wages  Builds wealth and purchasing power Earned Income Tax Credit

10 Working families may receive up to: $5,657 – three or more qualifying children (Income of $43,279 or less, $48,279 MFJ) less, $48,279 MFJ) $5,028 - two qualifying children (Income of $40,295 or less, $45,295 MFJ) $45,295 MFJ) $3,043 - one qualifying child (Income of $35,463 or less, $40,463 MFJ) $457 - no qualifying children (Income of $13,440 or less, $18,440 MFJ) MFJ) Earned Income Tax Credit

Low Income Population in Santa Barbara Source: 2000 Census

12 (National Average) RAL loan fee$ 75 Electronic filing fee$ 40 Check Cashing fee$ 67 Tax Preparation fee $ 85 Total Fees $ 267 Cost of Tax Preparation Source: Brookings Institute

13 VITA - Volunteer Income Tax Assistance An IRS sponsored program that offers free tax help to people who cannot afford professional assistance Nationwide: Over 3 millions returns prepared in 2010 In SB County: Over 5,000 returns prepared in 2010 In 2008, IRS established the Community VITA Grant Program to increase free tax preparation throughout the nation. Organizations and Volunteers needed VITA

What to Expect?  Volunteers are required to complete Ethics Training.  Volunteers need to be Certified in Tax Law to complete tax returns.  Beginner  Intermediate  Advanced

Link and Learn  VITA Training online at (keyword: Link and Learn Taxes)  Work with the Practice Lab to gain experience using tax software and take the certification test online, with immediate scoring and feedback.  Link and Learn test should be available on Nov 16th

Classroom Training  Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara  Jan 5 th, Jan 12 th, and Jan 19 th  10am-2pm (?)  526 W Montecito St – SB, CA 93101

Examples

Do I have to file?

Taxwise Training VS Link and Learn  ning ning  Green background not Blue!!  Site Coordinator would have to “set up” account  Might send in “dummy” returns if accidentally in live (blue) mode  (Keyword Link and Learn Taxes)  Practice Lab  Create account  Practice only, would use Taxwise to prepare actual returns.

20 Christopher Doyal 2384 Professional Parkway Santa Maria, CA Phone: Internal Revenue Service Stakeholder Partnerships, Education & Communication Office

Q&A

UPCOMING EVENTS  FALL:  FUNDRAISING - MONEY TREE  WINTER:  VITA TRAINING  VITA KICKOFF  VITA SOCIAL  VOLUNTEER SITE (SRB)  VITA Officer Election  SPRING:  VOLUNTEER WITH OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AND SCHOLARS (OISS)  VITA SOCIAL  END OF THE YEAR BANQUET

VITA WEBSITE   FOR VOLUNTEERS  Useful Certification Information, Future VITA meetings  Winter Quarter Tax Site Location & Times  FOR STUDENTS, GRADUATE STUDENTS, PEOPLE IN IV COMMUNITY WHO NEED FREE TAX RETURNS  SPREAD THE WORD!

Q&A

OFFICERS ELECTION

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