It all adds up: Union's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is finding that it's twice as successful in only its second year, with seven Union students helping low-income Schenectady County residents prepare and file tax returns at the Kenney Center, three nights a week.
The help will be availble through March 2.
“The program is doing incredibly well,” says Professor Mary O'Keefe, a public finance economist. “Our numbers are up 100 percent both in participation and refund dollars, in comparison to this point last year.”
Students Simi Koshy '07, Mu Dan Liu '06, Jared Levy '07, Justin Merolla '06, James Martin '07, Mark Susko ‘06 and Luke LaBella '07 all passed the basic level IRS certification exam. Some went on to pass the intermediate level exam, which certifies them to prepare returns for taxpayers with pension income.
The VITA initiative partners Union with the United Way, Schenectady County Department of Social Services, New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and the IRS. Started last winter by Therese McCarty, dean of faculty, it is now part of a new economics course, “Tax: Policy and Practice.”