GET INVOLVED

Volunteers ease the burden of tax return preparations for low-income earners.

As tax time approaches, many College students are preparing to offer a service whose value can't be calculated. Two hundred and fifty six volunteers plan to learn the skills to complete tax returns for low-income earners. They are the latest group to participate in the IRS's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program offered as part of the College's Civic Engagement Initiative.

Through a series of six to eight training sessions, led by David Lavin, associate professor of accounting, and several dedicated students from prior groups (fifty the first year, more than ninety last year), they will master the software program TaxWise.

At tax time, the students will work for at least twenty hours, meeting with people at Navarro's Pharmacy on SW 8th Street and 122nd Avenue, at the Orange Bowl, and in the Corpus Cristi area in Miami.

Last year, the College's group was the largest VITA program in Miami-Dade County and was honored by Mayor Manual "Manny" Diaz for the volunteers' contributions.

For more information about VITA and the College's Civic Engagement Initiative, which creates and supports projects that help students experience the importance of service and community leadership, visit cba.fiu.edu/service.