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VITA

The Institute for Public Engagement, the School of Accountancy and the School of Law, are working to help local tax-payers in preparing their tax returns under the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.   

            The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program provides free tax return preparation assistance to income eligible taxpayers.  Taxpayers with incomes below $49,000 a year may receive assistance with preparing and filing their tax returns from certified VITA volunteers.

            Certified volunteers receive training from the IRS and sponsoring agencies on basic tax returns. Training may be done on-line or during one of the scheduled training sessions.   To learn more about VITA, visit: www.irs.gov.

How do I get the training?

You must be certified by the IRS at the Basic and Intermediate level to be a Volunteer Tax Assistor. Greeters must be certified at the Basic level.

There are several ways to get the training and certification:

  • A two-day Training Workshop is offered for new volunteers, December 4 and December 11, 2010 from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm  at the Employment Security Commission building, 400 West Hanes Mill Road, Winston-Salem (2nd floor REACT Center- the building is directly next to SciWorks). This workshop includes Tax Law (this teaches you the questions to ask) and using the Tax-Wise software. Workbooks are provided. Contact   to register.
  • You can take an online “Link and Learn” course from the IRS. This interactive course teaches the basics needed to accurately prepare 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ income tax returns for individuals and is completely self-paced. The 2010 tax year course and information is available in late at http://www.irs.gov/app/vita/  If you do this, you can get the accompanying workbooks from Tim Flavin at EISR or download them as PDF files (see Links page). These are large publications, so you might not want to print them. The Link and Learn course also provides Practice Lab using the online software. Get information about Practice Lab by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.
  • We will also have training in January (dates TBD) for those who cannot attend the December classes
  • You can also use the workbooks alone to study for the tests.
  • OTHER LOCATIONS:  There will be a tax law training class for new volunteers from 8:30AM- 4:00PM on January 12 & 13, 2011 in the Dogwood Room in the Kinston Bldg., 2303 W. Meadowview Rd., Greensboro.  The NC Division of Revenue will conduct a class on January 14, 2001, from 9AM – Noon.  A refresher for returning volunteers will be from 1PM – 4PM on January 14 and 8:30AM – Noon on January 15.  Returning volunteers can come to the two day class and new volunteers can also come to the refresher class.  If you’d like to attend any of these classes, please contact John Lenik at 336-378-2306 or

AARP also offers the training in a several formats in January. Contact Steve Graf at 336-653-9222 for more information.

There is no charge for the training or materials. 

To get involved, register for training and sign up for a session, email or call
 
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Tim Flavin…………………336-722-9400 x 450 ">