To become a knowledgeable tax preparer requires more than just passing test. It requires knowing some tax law, and more importantly, how to look-up what you don’t know and ask questions.  Follow these steps 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 listed in order of tax-preparation & intake form
*The IRS has the following tax law training for volunteers as well: 
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.
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
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
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
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Adjustments to Income -

How are they different than credits? 
How do they affect the return?
Adjustments to Income
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. 
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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. ​