Whether you are filing your taxes yourself or with the assistance of a tax preparer, tax season can be both a stressful and an exciting time. Fortunately, thousands of Michiana residents can receive tax filing support at one of the seven Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites sponsored by Goodwill this year. VITA offers its tax filing services to households with an annual income of $64,000 or less. The program is open to both United States citizens and resident aliens. Goodwill centers, libraries, and schools number among the seven VITA sites that are available in South Bend and Elkhart this year.
Debie Coble, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Michiana, gives insight to VITA’s mission of supporting low-income households.
“Goodwill's mission is to empower people to achieve their most abundant lives,” Coble said. “We believe that VITA is a resource that so many of our community’s members need and want. Our organization’s size enables us to lend background support for the VITA program. We ensure that the technology is working, the volunteers have the supplies they need, and the appointments are all scheduled. We do this so the volunteers can focus wholly on the clients and help them maximize their tax refund. Being able to help bring this program to our residents gives us all that warm, fuzzy feeling inside.”
Although VITA has been using Goodwill sites for over 10 years, Goodwill took this partnership to the next level in 2020 by becoming a sponsor of the program. Coble trusts that VITA will prove to be helpful for community members because she has seen her own employees benefit from the program for years.
“We originally became a VITA site so our employees could get tax filing support,” Coble said. “We wanted to make sure that our employees could receive their tax refund quickly and without having to pay a tax preparer fee. We give qualifying employees time during the workday to have their taxes filed by VITA. Knowing the extensiveness of VITA training, I was confident that our employees were receiving top-quality service. It felt like the right thing to do for them. As that partnership developed, we began hosting VITA at different Goodwill locations outside of South Bend.”
Those interested in volunteering at one of the VITA sites this year can serve as either a greeter, a preparer, an advanced preparer, or a quality reviewer. While Coble concedes that online tax filing services have their merits, she feels that the free face-to-face support that VITA offers clients sets the program apart from alternative tax filing methods.
“VITA tax preparers participate in the program because they want to support our community,” Coble said. “They're doing it without expecting to be paid, and I think that says a lot. They dedicate themselves to many hours of training to develop their knowledge and skill sets in order to become VITA tax preparers. They have been doing this for many years, so they can either deal with whatever issues clients have, or they know who in the IRS they can contact for the questions they can’t answer themselves. Some of the tax preparers have been VITA volunteers for decades and are truly passionate about the program. They’re a phenomenal group of people.”
There are a limited number of VITA appointments, so call (574) 800-1361 or visit vita.goodwill-ni.org today if you are interested in booking one. Please visit goodwill-ni.org to learn more about Goodwill.