Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA)

Team Leader: James Devilbliss
Contact: jdevilbli@ycp.edu
When: Training Begins in Late October!
Aimed For: York County Residents
Faculty Advisor: Sean Andre

What is Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA)?

York SIFE has continued to provide opportunities for the underprivileged of York County through a free tax service for adults. With this program, SIFE members certify with the IRS to assist low to middle income taxpayers. The taxpayers meet with our certified SIFE volunteers and together they work to complete their federal, state, and local tax returns. VITA provides the opportunity for York County residents to take advantage of a free tax preparation service, allowing them to save on tax preparation fees. In addition, this program helps the residents become more financially literate by working one-on-one with a tax preparer certified by the IRS. The VITA program is one of York SIFE’s main projects because we have volunteers that staff eleven different sites throughout the county. This project provides statistics that show how much of a difference our VITA tax preparers are making throughout York County. Certification requires the completion of a 15 hour course and up to three final tests. Last year, SIFE and community volunteers have completed over 1600 tax returns that have yielded over $4.7 million in federal refunds. This year, we hope to double our volunteer base and provide Spanish-speaking tax preparers.