STUDENTS PROVIDE TAX SERVICES TO LOW-INCOME RESIDENTS posted 2/12/04
Fulfills Community Action Agency’s request for volunteers

Adrian accountancy and business students will help low-income people do their taxes this winter, through a program between the IRS and the Community Action Agency.

Ana Rivero works for the Community Action Agency (CAA), an organization that aims to promote self-sufficiency in Lenawee, Hillsdale and Jackson counties. She has been offering tax help to low-income families for some time. However, this year she seeks to significantly expand the CAA’s services by creating a team of volunteers to help with the work.

Rivero, who is an Adrian College graduate, has arranged with Professor Bill Nalepka in the accountancy/business department to line up some students. She has around a dozen volunteers in all, allowing her to greatly expand the service to more than the 88 households she was able to help last year.

Something new this year is the tax software they will use. In the past a popular commercial software (TurboTax) was used. This year, they will be using software through the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. The IRS is training the volunteers.

The tax work for the low-income people is offered free of charge.