VITA

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (V.I.T.A.) program offered through the Coastal Bend CA$H Coalition assists low-income working families help to prepare and e-file their tax returns.

Sites are now open! See a list of locations, times and what to bring to a VITA site HERE.

     

 
Leslie Ruta, Texas A&M-CC business student; Kelly Cholick, 2011 United Way VITA Project Coordinator; Chris Sambrano, Texas A&M-CC business student.

Community members are invaluable to the success of the VITA program. During the 2011 tax filing season, volunteers prepared more than 2,500 returns in the Coastal Bend area resulting in over $3 million dollars worth of refunds. Those same numbers in the previous year were over 1,800 returns and almost $2 million worth of refunds.  

It is estimated that nearly $31 million of potential Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) funds are unclaimed in our local area when hard-working families do not file for them at tax time. That money is lost to them and to our local economy. Additionally, thousands of dollars more is unnecessarily lost when area families pay high fees to commercial tax preparation firms offering Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) or rapid returns.

2012 Report
2011 Report

Volunteer Training
All volunteers receive IRS-certified training including basic tax law, the software used to prepare tax returns and administrative processes. Schedule for training: HERE.

Volunteer Application

• Printable version with mailing instructions
• Online (User name: vita and Password: volunteer)

Volunteer Positions - with links to each job description:

Income Tax Preparer Interpreter Screener/Greeter Quality Reviewer

Heather Callaway, 2010 VITA site coordinator

For more information on this unique volunteer opportunity, contact Kelly Cholick at kelly.cholick@uwcb.org.

Funding for the 2012 VITA program sponsored in part by:


Pictured from left, volunteer Jesse Escamilla retired from Dupont is able to assist clients in both Spanish and English and on the right, volunteer Inglan Iniquez, a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi student enters a tax payer's information into the TaxWise filing system. (2010)