TaxHelp Student Organization: Basic Information By Stephanie Beckett 1/23/11 (updated 1/30/11)

Mission We provide income tax filing assistance on both federal and state (of Massachusetts) returns Mainly to low-income individuals (generally $49K and below, although higher for families) Can serve students – so tell your friends, if you want We’re part of the IRS’s VITA program, so we must be certified through them

Dates and Times: Regular Times at Library (close to campus) Fridays, Noon to 5 PM, Cambridge Library, Main Branch, Rindge Room Feb. 4 - April 15 Ends at 2:30 PM rather than 5 PM on February 11 Excluding March (week before and of spring break) Still allows for up to 42.5 hours of volunteer work, if volunteer each time Can come late, if you’re unavailable until later in the window (but we ask people to come for full sessions if at all possible)

Dates and Times: Regular Times at Library (close to campus) 3Ls generally can finish their 40 hour pro bono requirement with us – they are allowed to finish the requirement after spring break (talk to Lee Branson to ensure she knows you’re a TaxHelp participant and when you expect to finish the requirement) Unfortunately, Saturday sessions have been cancelled because of a lack of volunteers available on Saturdays

To Get Involved… Please with your full name so you get access to our TaxWise

Pro Bono Credit You can get pro bono credit or PSI credit for volunteering… You can fulfill the 40 hour requirement by volunteering each Friday We’ll keep track of hours But please also keep track of your own hours

Mac Users – Limitations You must bring your own PC laptop to the sessions so that you can use our tax software Mac users can also choose to fulfill at least the basic certification process Either without using tax software or by using TaxWise on a PC available in the library These Mac users would then be able to volunteer, helping people fill out the intake forms and doing reviews of other volunteers’ returns

Certification There are 3 levels of certification (basic, intermediate, and advanced) We’d love for people to get certified at higher levels than Basic!!! But, only Basic is required With Basic certification, you can do simple returns involving: Wages, unemployment compensation and simple investment income (e.g. interest and ordinary dividends); Standard Deduction only; several credits for low to moderate income taxpayers.

Certification But, with only Basic, you can’t do, for example: Pensions of any kind Self-employment income Stock trades Itemized deductions (note that need more than about $5700 for a single person to beat the standard deduction, so, if someone has medical expenses, for example, in the $100s, you can still do the return)

Certification – Resources You can take complete online courses covering all of the topics for all of the levels at You can also download an IRS training document at We also have physical copies of this document and another volunteer training guide – please us and we’ll put them in your box And, what will answer ALL of your personal income tax questions is IRS Publication 17, available at (it’s also available as a PDF)

Certification – Requirements You do NOT need to complete a course to be certified – all you need to do is pass the test

Certification - Process You’re all really smart, so you could do certification with no guidance other than what’s on the IRS website Particularly true if you’ve volunteered with us before… Or if you know something about tax law Certification will probably 2 hours (if you know some tax law already) to 5 hours (for brand new people) Website with tests: ReturnUrl=%2fdefault.aspx ReturnUrl=%2fdefault.aspx

Certification - Process But, we’ve provided a bit of a primer on how to use our TaxWise software; see “Guide to Using TaxWise to Complete VITA Basic Certification” PowerPoint Note that you’re not required to use TaxWise to complete the certification if you don’t want to (you can use the paper forms and do the calculations yourself)

Most Important Part of Certification… Once you’re certified, print out and sign the Volunteer Agreement available after you take the test) and us your certificate!!! Bring Volunteer Agreement with you to first time you volunteer your certificate to before the first time you volunteer

Summary of Next Steps 1) with your full name and days and times you plan to We’ll reply telling you we’ve given you a TaxWise account. Also, if you’d like a physical copy of the IRS VITA training materials, please mention that in the and we’ll put it in your box. 2) Get certified 3) Print out and sign the volunteer agreement and your certification to

Questions? Please