The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance is offering free tax assistance at UCLA for the next three weeks by providing volunteers who will train and educate people about the tax process.
Volunteers from the organization will provide services at Ackerman Union in Rooms 2408 and 3517 for people who need help filing taxes.
The non-profit organization provides tax assistance and education to people in the Los Angeles community through certified student volunteers. The main focus of the group is on the filing of tax returns, an issue which often confuses people who are inexperienced with the tax-filing procedure.
While the organization assists a variety of people in Los Angeles, including elderly and low-income members of the community, the head coordinators of the group said college students can also seek help to file their tax returns.
Jennifer Khov, a volunteer with the group, said its service is especially relevant to students who enter college uneducated and inexperienced in dealing with taxes.
Khov, a fourth-year sociology student, said students are often too busy to find assistance because of their difficult schedules, but she said students should utilize the free services offered to accurately complete their taxes.
Khov said it is necessary for students to seek help so that the volunteers can educate them about the process to prevent misinformation and confusion.
Joanne Hou, a recent UCLA alumna and head coordinator of the group, said that the services not only educate students but also provide a consistent source of reliability and privacy to clients. She said that the volunteers will look over the clients’ work privately and for free.
Hou, a former Daily Bruin contributor, said this strategy makes people feel less overwhelmed and intimidated by the tax process and prepares them to eventually finish their taxes individually, without depending on outside help.
“By using software to file their taxes electronically, students can reduce processing times,” Hou added.
Andrew Chen, a third-year biomedical engineering student and another head coordinator of the organization, stressed the importance of correctly following the tax laws and codes, which can prevent some people from filing tax returns.
“It is common for many individuals to not take the tax credits that they are eligible for because they are unaware of their eligibility,” he said.
He said this factor influences more students to seek aid in filing taxes as the high cost of education makes any amount of money saved a valuable benefit to college funding.
Chen also acknowledged an increase in the number of people seeking assistance at the organization’s sites since the economy experienced such a harsh decline.
He said more people are searching for guidance to ensure that they receive their full tax refund, which was evident by the filled workshops.
By hosting these information sessions at Ackerman, the volunteers said they hope to aid students with such issues by providing their advice and support.
“We want to help people who are lost or scared of doing taxes and provide a necessary service,” Hou said.