Nevermind H&R Block – if you’re in a low-to-moderate income bracket and live in the Greater New Orleans area, this tax season you’ve got people.
Loyola law students have an opportunity to earn pro bono hours and a tax certificate by volunteering to assist those most in need with filing their income tax returns.
The Loyola College of Law is providing the Greater New Orleans area with free tax preparation assistance through the Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. VITA is run through the IRS, but is independently operated at locations around the U.S. and the world by the AARP, churches, civic groups, schools, libraries, etc. VITA offers people earning less than about $42,000 per year assistance with their returns.
Last year, VITA helped prepare almost 11,000 returns in the GNO area. The Loyola Law VITA program prepared 270 returns, almost doubling the previous year. Within the last four years, the number of volunteers at the Loyola location has grown from 21 to over 50.
“From the looks of things, it looks like it’s going to be bigger this year,” said Andrew Piacun, Loyola Law Budget Director and VITA site coordinator. The office in which he and the other volunteers work is a flurry of activity filled with people looking for help with their taxes. “This is early, too. This is early in the year.”
When the office gets filled to capacity, people are sent across the street from the law school to the Broadway Activities Center were two additional student volunteers are waiting to help.
And there is a definite need for the help. Many of the people that come to the Loyola VITA program for assistance qualify for tax breaks for low-income earners, mostly the Earned Income Tax Credit. The EITC offers single parents earning $15,000 or less a tax credit. According to the IRS website, it means “more money in your pocket.”
Law students at Loyola stand to benefit from the program by earning pro bono hours to put towards fulfilling the law and poverty requirement of 50 hours that most law schools require of their graduates. Law students must fulfill a basic level of training through the IRS in order to volunteer, but can earn a tax certificate if they complete 50 hours of tax assistance and take four tax courses offered at the College of Law. In addition, law students can earn eight skills credit hours, which knock out that graduation requirement as well.
The VITA program is a better alternative to tax preparation services that Piacun says are predatory.
“These refund anticipation loans, these instant refunds are preying on the low-income people,” said Piacun. He described one case where one woman paid over $400, or 7% of her tax refund to one of these financial companies.
“They’re preying on low-income, minority people and charging an exorbitant amount of money,” he said.
The Loyola Law VITA program will hold tax preparation sessions through April 13, Monday through Thursday, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Next week, the Loyola Law College’s VITA program will begin a community outreach that will take place every other Saturday until April 4, located at the St. Bernard Parish Community Center to serve both Chalmette and the Lower Ninth Ward.
Jean Paul Arguello can be reached at [email protected].
