The Student Accounting Association is offering free tax assistance and electronic filing now through April 14 at the Wesley United Methodist Church at 130 W. Third Street in Bloomsburg. The program is open to students and residents of Columbia and Montour counties who made less than $46,000 last year, or who are 60 or older.
Accounting students volunteer their time from 4 to 8 p.m. each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, helping people file their tax returns using the TaxWise software program, and offering information on Earned Income Tax Credit, "the largest federal program for working families," according to a press release on Bloomsburg University's website.
"Taxpayers seeking help should bring this year's tax package, wage and earnings statements for all employers (Form W-2), interest statements from banks (Form 1099), a copy of last year's tax returns and other relevant income and expense information," the website advises.
Tim Cope and Ravi Kanani, both senior accounting majors and volunteers for the program, said that the majority of people who come in for assistance are townspeople, and that they help an average of 100 people every year.
"We usually get the same people coming back each year," Cope said. "I think people just don't have the general sense of how to do [their tax returns], and they want someone else to do it for them. That helps us out a lot because it's good experience."
Plus, he points out, it benefits the people who come in because "It's better than paying somebody like H&R Block to do it for $200 or $300."
International transfer student Agnieszka Charymska believes that the program is especially helpful for students who, like her, are not familiar with the American tax system.
"It gives you that confidence to know that these people know what they're doing," she said.
Associate Professor of Accounting Blair Staley coordinates the program and keeps it running smoothly.
"He does it in his free time," Kanani said. "He puts in a lot of time … He has to be on call [during the sessions] to take care of any problems, software updates. If the returns are rejected, he has to call the people back in to sort out the problem."
The assistance program is an annual event at the church, a location that was chosen because of a lack of suitable space at the university and an attempt to make aid more accessible to townspeople who would feel uncomfortable coming on campus, Cope said.
For more information on the program on the income tax assistance program, contact Dr. Staley at (570) 389-4392.
Assistance will not be available this Monday, April 5.
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