This tax season, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) introduced a new course for students in tax preparation that provides the necessary information and credentials needed to prepare taxes for members of the community.
In partnership with the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga, a social services organization dedicated to providing free tax preparation services to the community, UTC’s Introduction to Tax Preparation class (ACC 3999) offered free tax preparation services to students.
The course is based on the IRS’s VITA program (Voluntary Income Tax Assistance) developed in 1969. Tax preparation is free for low-income and elderly taxpayers through VITA. The Urban League coordinates all VITA sites in Chattanooga.
“This course is intended to help students become VITA volunteers and interact with members of the community preparing taxes,” Assistant Professor of Accounting Steve Davenport said in a statement.
The course is one of UTC’s “Beyond the Classroom” offerings, which are a variety of free courses and learning events at UTC where students earn points toward being a ThinkAchieve graduate.
For students to be accepted into the course, there is an on-demand admission process which requires the approval of the department head, according to UTC.
Chance Gregory, a Chattanooga native and UTC senior majoring in accounting taking the new course said in a statement, “Introduction to Tax Preparation has been my favorite class this year. Also, I get to help low-income adults and UTC students by preparing their taxes for free.”
Mohammed Kanakrieh, a Nashville native and junior at UTC majoring in accounting who also participated in the course added, “The first month of the class we learned and took certification tests that qualified us to prepare returns at volunteer sites. These exams took a lot of time to research and figure out but were extremely helpful in learning how to prepare returns.”
This year, the deadline to file federal tax returns is Tuesday, April 18th.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “University of Tennessee at Chattanooga” by University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
