VITA Archives - Nevada Volunteers

The Ripple Effect

Belinda spent this past tax season in Las Vegas preparing tax returns for low-income individuals as a volunteer.

Tax season is over, but the legacy of one volunteer’s commitment to service will linger. Belinda spent the last few months volunteering for VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance), helping low-income individuals in Las Vegas prepare their tax returns. She has a wonderful story to tell which illustrates the ripple effect of volunteering.

Belinda said:

Today was a good day in many ways. Although we are at the end of tax season and the demand for our services far outweighs our capacity, I am in good spirits. Today I was able to help a client through a really tough time by doing her return and taking the time to educate her about all the different credits she would qualify for. This client has major car repair needs looming that she could not afford to fix and every day prayed her car would not break down. She was barely making ends meet and needed extra cash to get the work done. Based on the knowledge she gained from a thorough review of her taxes we realized her refund from the year before was much less than she was entitled to receive. We prepared a 1040X that gave her even more money than she could have ever dreamed. By the end of preparing both years’ tax return, the client was in tears and extremely thankful; she kept saying thanks over and over and over again. I don’t know if we will ever see her again, but she is a fan of VITA for life!

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Good For You!

Do you volunteer? Good for you! You are one of the four in ten Americans who volunteered this past year.

But do you know that you are doing yourself a big favor?

Volunteering is just plain good for your health, your sense of well-being, even your job, according to a survey of more than 4,500 Americans by Volunteer Match and United-Healthcare.

How?

Consider this volunteer’s story. Mac has been volunteering in Reno with VITA, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. In early February, he had a thrilling success story to report. Mac said:

I had a client this week that was about to lose her place to live at the end of this month. She has a son. I prepared her return and she got a refund of over $4,000.00. When I told her that her refund would be e-filed and in the bank by the 25^th, she broke down and cried. She said I saved her and her son from being homeless.

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Volunteering for VITA!

April 15^th has always been just a normal calendar day for me. My family hires a CPA to take care of our taxes every year, so they have never been much more than a passing thought in my daily life. But as I have grown up and taken on more “adult” responsibilities, I have looked at my own taxes and realized that they are incredibly difficult! It is confusing language, difficult math, and lines leading to more lines. It’s nearly impossible to make heads or tails out of any of it. But as I have branched away from relying on my family and done more of my own taxes each year, I have come to learn how to file basic taxes. I have had the chance to learn because I am surrounded by people who know how to help me, but I also know that I am lucky in that and not everyone has those same people around them. I found myself wondering how others learn how to correctly file their own taxes. (more…)