Welcome to VITA!
Why Study? The time we put into studying tax law translates to the high quality of service provided to clients. 
To become a knowledgeable tax preparer requires more than just passing the test. It requires knowing  how to look-up what you don’t know and ask questions. 
REMEMBER....
You do not need to memorize anything, we are not expected to be experts, the IRS test is open-book (Woo-hoo!), and when preparing taxes, you will have the book (PUB 4012) and other volunteers to guide you.  You are not doing this alone.
For your Peace of Mind: Many people worry about making mistakes. 
  • We are volunteers, not tax experts, and to help ensure accuracy, every return that is prepared gets Quality Reviewed by another set of eyes at the site.  This is an IRS requirement for ALL tax returns that are prepared through VITA/TCE, whether it's your first or 20th year. No exceptions--we are all human and we can all make mistakes. This is why we have the double-check.
  • Volunteer Protection Act of 1997-- VITA/TCE program volunteers are not considered paid preparers; therefore, you are not legally liable under federal law for the return you prepare. This means you cannot accept payment of any kind (this means you cannot accept tips) from the taxpayer for preparing a federal tax return or for providing any other tax-related assistance. You are protected as long as all of the following conditions are true:
    • You are certified for the return you prepare,
    • You are acting within the scope of your volunteer responsibilities.
    • The harm was not caused by willful, criminal, reckless, grossly negligent, or conscious, flagrantly indifferent acts.
  • Every site has a wonderful team of experienced volunteers that work together, have fun, help each other, and care about helping our clients-- you will enjoy working with them.
Follow the checklist below and you will have a successful tax season. Thank you for being a part of the VITA team!
I have put together training resources  below-broken them down into sections. They are listed in order of tax-preparation & intake form
Disclaimer: The IRS has the following tax law training for volunteers as well if you prefer to use the IRS' training instead:
Click Here To Print a checklist to track your progress
For each section, Click on Image to access resource    
Every Volunteer Needs to:
  • ​Create a certification account
  • View Standards of Conduct/Ethics training then take exam
  • View Intake/Interview training and take exam 

Click image to see short videos and information on how to create a certification account and take the first 2 tests. 
Certification Account
Intake Form 
One of the most important parts of preparing a complete and accurate return.  It guides the intake/interview process and helps you gather all the needed information.

Click on image for a breakdown by section and what to look for and some sample videos of the intake process.
Intake
Client Not a U.S. Citizen?
If client indicates they are not a U.S. Citizen, you need to determine if they can file with VITA. 

Click on image for steps to take.

​See PUB 4012 L1 & L2

The ONLY 1040-NRs we can do with VITA are for International Students and Teachers on specific VISA types, and the Preparer and Quality Reviewer Must have Foreign Student Certification
Dependents  Who can be claimed as a dependent? What are the rules? 

​Well, it can depend on several things like: the person's age, relationship to taxpayer, where the person lives, their income, whether in school, what a divorce decree says...
To Learn about who can be a Qualifying Child & Qualifying Relative for tax purposes and possible credits click image.

See PUB 4012 Section C

I list dependents before filing status since you need to know if they have qualifying dependents in order to determine if they can be Head of Household or Qualifying Widow/widower. 
Dependents
Filing Status
Choosing the correct & most advantageous filing status. While you may think that this is a white and black thing, just like everything else, there are exceptions to rules. 

Unfortunately, making a mistake in selecting the correct filing status can result in a variety of problems. 

To Learn about the Different Filing Statuses  click on image.

See PUB 4012 pages B 8-11
Filing Status
Create a Taxslayer Practice Lab Account

It is time to create an account in Practice Lab so you can start playing around and getting familiar with the software. We are currently using Taxslayer, a wonderful program that has won the IRS bid for the VITA program. 
Practice Lab
Income 
Learn about the various types of earned and unearned income and how to enter them in Taxslayer.**Some examples provided
​
This is a big section--a lot of information to cover

See Pub 4012 Section D
Income
​
Adjustments to Income -
  • Teacher Expenses
  • Student Loan Interest
  • Health Savings Account Deduction (HSA Training can be found here)
  • IRA deduction (not ROTH)
  • Alimony PAID
  • Deductible part of self-employment tax
  • Self-employed health insurance deduction

​How are they different than credits? 
How do they affect the return?
Adjustments to Income
Standard Deductions Tax Year 2022

What does it mean?
What are the TY2022 values?
How does it affect the return?

See PUB 4012 Section F
Standard Deduction
Taxes--  
  • ​Income tax, 
  • Self-employment tax, 
  • Excess advance premium tax credit repayment,
  • 1st Time Home Buyers Credit
  • Early Withdraw Penalty
  • and a few more we see at VITA sites

Luckily, the software calculates all the taxes for us once we enter all the 1099's and W2's
Taxes
Credits
Credits are divided into 2 categories:
  • Non-Refundable and Refundable. 
  • Non-refundable credits
Visit this page to learn about the many credits and how they affect a tax return.
Credits​
Marketplace / Affordable Care Act

Visit here to learn a little about how Marketplace works:
  • Why some people have to pay back and some get a refund for it on their tax return and others break even
  • Why it gets reported on the tax return
  • How to avoid a simple yet very costly error
  • What you can try to do when someone is forced to repay thousands of dollars back
  • and more..
Marketplace
Finishing a Return in Taxslayer

You entered all the income and credits, now you need to finish the return so the Quality Reviewer can double check your work.
Finishing a Return
Quality Review -- The 2nd set of eyes on a return-- a Non-Negotiable with VITA/TCE program.

There are several ways to do a quality review. 
Quality Review
Reviewing the Return with your client
It is important to be able to explain to the client the results of the return. I personally review the entire return with the client from beginning to end--the 1040 and schedules.
The client is going to be signing the return, taking responsibility for it, it would be nice if they knew what they were signing. PLUS, when you review the return with the client, sometimes they catch mistakes or missing information they forgot to mention. Think of it as a Final Review. **I CANNOT EXPRESS ENOUGH THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING THE CLIENT VERIFY THEIR BANK INFORMATION THEMSELVES ON PAPER BEFORE THEY SIGN AND BEFORE THE RETURN IS TRANSMITTED!!!!!  THIS IS FOR REFUNDS AND DIRECT DEBITS!!
Explaining the Return
Amending a Return after it has been e-filed. 

We can help clients that need to amend (change) a return after it has already been filed--whether it was done at your VITA site, or somewhere else (even outside of  VITA). Usually the site coordinators or more experienced volunteers will handle these-- but you don't become experienced without doing. It is not hard.
​
Amending a
​ Return
Click Here to Go to Home Page where you can find a link to the
​ Certification Help page where you will find Study Guides and other helpful tools. 
Remember your PUB 4012  is your 'Bible'-please refer to it, get familiar with it both in print and online. PUB 4012 and PUB 4491 should be your go to guide for tax questions.
​*As always, if you see an error or have a suggestion, please let me know. I am human, I make mistakes, and I am in no way a tax expert. 
Home
About
Contact Me
You can contact me at maryvitataxes@gmail.com 
Please note: I, Mary Meador, AM NOT a certified accountant or tax law expert. I volunteer with VITA providing free tax preparation for individuals and families whose income is less than $66,000 a year. We deal with simple returns at our sites.  I cannot guarantee the accuracy of all the information on this site as tax laws change and I may not have a clear understanding of complicated issues. I am trying to provide basic tax preparation information for our volunteers to get started--remember Publication 4012 is your go-to resource for questions, as well as irs.gov and Publication 17.  I hope you find this information useful and easy to understand. Thanks for being a VITA/TCE volunteer!​