Thousands of local income-eligible residents have received free tax preparation assistance and filing through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.
Accounting students at Lakeshore Technical College have been participating in the program and earning IRS certification since 2005. When the college found out late in 2020 that most other local VITA partners would not be conducting tax preparation operations during the upcoming tax season, the Lakeshore VITA team rallied and began planning for its program.
Lakeshore develops an appointment schedule for each tax season based on how many students are enrolled in the Applied Tax course. With 21 students enrolled at the time the schedule was developed, the service timeframe was set for February 9 through April 6. All reservations were filled by mid-January.