Filled with laptops, printers and tax documents, Ackerman Viewpoint Lounge was transformed into a makeshift accounting office on Monday afternoon.
With the April 17 deadline to file income taxes quickly approaching, between 50 and 60 students stopped by to take advantage of the free tax workshop put on by Volunteer Income Tax Assistance at UCLA, said Thomas Kozak, a fourth-year business economics student and training coordinator for the organization.
The volunteer student organization, which is affiliated with the Community Service Commission, holds regular workshops ““ both on campus and within the greater Los Angeles community ““ to help people file their taxes, Kozak said.
“We basically just file taxes for people who can’t afford to do (their taxes), don’t know how to or don’t want to,” said Khoi Nguyen, a third-year business economics student and VITA volunteer.
Kozak said the organization focuses primarily on people with an income limit of $50,000, especially college students and the elderly.
Most students fall within a lower tax bracket, which means they have to pay about 8 to 10 percent of their income in taxes, he said.
Ben Feinberg, a second-year doctoral student in environmental engineering, came by to get help with his taxes after hearing about the workshop from a friend, who got help last year.
“There were a lot things I didn’t know,” Feinberg said. He added that he was fined by the state in 2011 because he did not know he had to pay a tax on the difference between his scholarships and his tuition payments.
Students receiving more scholarships than required for tuition must pay additional taxes for the difference, Kozak said ““ or else risk a fine.
To avoid penalties, students who receive scholarships should access a 1098-T form through UCLA Tax Services to compare how much money they receive from scholarships and how much they have to pay for tuition before they file taxes, Kozak said.
Rather than just doing their taxes for them, Nguyen said the volunteers walk each person through the tax filing process step-by-step.
Volunteers go through training during the fall and begin filing taxes for people at the beginning of winter quarter.
“(Filing taxes) is tedious work, but I’ll be doing it in the future anyway,” said Nguyen, an aspiring accountant. “So I might as well get used to it now.”