Student volunteers offer tax services for campus community

By: Kevin Sajdak

Posted: 2/23/07

Filing tax returns has now become a little less complicated.

In what has become an annual tradition, a group of accounting students in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management is offering free income tax services to Syracuse University students, staff and faculty.

Thanks to the Beta Alpha Psi accounting fraternity, members of the SU community can bring their 1040A or 1040EZ tax forms into Flaum Grand Hall - immediately inside Whitman - for assistance. Both sets of tax forms are available for those that don't yet have them.

The program aims to provide hands-on experience to the approximately 20 involved accounting majors, while providing a convenience to those on the Hill. Student volunteers are available every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. until April 12.

"Doing a tax return, for someone who doesn't have a business or accounting background, can be a very scary thing," said Mitch Franklin, an associate professor of accounting at Whitman. Franklin also acts as the faculty advisor to the program.

The process is "pretty simple," said Amy Marcello, volunteer income tax assistant coordinator and a senior accounting major. Students give the volunteers their W-2 tax return, answer several general questions and leave the rest to the volunteers.

According to the student employment Web site, SU has approximately 4,300 student employees.

Given that most students do not make much money and, therefore do not likely require complicated tax forms, Marcello encouraged the use of her group's program over that of a pay service.

"If you're a student and aren't making much money, it doesn't make much sense to go to H&R Block," she said.

The free tax service also hopes to make the occasionally bewildering tax return process less complicated.

"If a student has a question, we can actually explain to them what we're doing and why we're doing it," said Jon Peterson, a junior accounting major.

The program is considered a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program by the Internal Revenue Service. The VITA program was instilled to help lower to moderate income persons fill out their tax returns. According to a Maxwell School affiliated Web site, there are between 25-30 VITA centers in the Syracuse area.

Beta Alpha Psi members were required to take and pass a VITA certification test before being allowed to volunteer.

While the SU program has been going on for many years, this year is unique in that it focuses on assisting those on campus. Last year, students ventured out into the community to help local lower-income people fill out their non-complicated tax forms. Marcello said the program might return to assist local residents next year.

While the tax assistance table was not particularly busy Thursday afternoon, Peterson said in the two days since the program re-launched, his group has already helped a number of students and expects things to pick up further as the April 15 tax deadline approaches.