ASL VITA Offers Free Tax Assistance to Qualified Individuals

The Appalachian School of Law (ASL) has a group known as VITA (aka Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) that offers free tax assistance to individuals who meet certain qualifications.  ASL students, as volunteers, help prepare basic income tax returns for low-income taxpayers in Buchanan County and surrounding areas.  We are also here to help ASL’s students and staff.  In doing so, we are able to fulfill ASL’s requirement of 25 hours of community service per semester.

In becoming a VITA volunteer, you are required to go through “Standards of Conduct” training which would be similar to what an attorney must adhere to with the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility.  This training gives the volunteers a valuable opportunity to experience working one on one with a client in a confidential relationship.

VITA volunteers also gain the experience of working with others at the tax site by reviewing returns done by one of their peers or having the return they have prepared reviewed by a peer.  This would be similar to working at a law firm and having their work critiqued by a fellow associate or a partner in the firm.

All in all, VITA is a great way to gain vital knowledge and experience, and is a great place to fulfill ASL’s community service requirement.