This Saturday is the first of eight free, weekly tax preparation sessions being hosted at CSU’s College of Business. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) service is supported by College faculty and staff and is provided by Beta Alpha Psi students and community members who are IRS trained and certified volunteers. Taxpayers with an annual income of $58,000 or less and clients 60 years of age and older with routine returns of any amount are eligible for this free service. CSU employees who meet the program criteria are eligible for assistance.
In the last three years that VITA has been offered at the College of Business, the program has averaged over 150 completed returns annually, not only helping eligible community members financially, but providing an invaluable learning experience to accounting students.
“VITA was the first hands-on experience I had,” said Kathryn Schell, who graduated from the College of Business with a BSBA and Master of Accountancy. “As with anything when you start your career, it’s a little bit scary at first, but putting yourself in uncomfortable situations helps you grow as a person. Instead of taking a test about tax you’re actually sitting in front of someone and doing their taxes.”
The more returns she completed the more comfortable she became working with clients and asking for assistance when she needed it.
“There’s support, it’s not like you were doing it on your own and hoping for the best,” said Schell, now a senior tax consultant at Deloitte. “I enjoyed helping people with their returns and the time commitment is worth it. A lot of hiring managers, if they see that you have that experience, it can be good for your career path.”
Meg Skeehan, a program assistant with the College’s accounting department, has been helping with the VITA program for four years.
“This service truly makes a difference for our community, and for our students who get to learn how to work with those in need,” Skeehan said. “Giving our students the skills they need to do good for their communities where ever they end up after graduation is critical to our College’s vision of using Business for a Better World.”
Although the program has staff and faculty oversight, much of the logistics, training and volunteer sign ups are handled by students is CSU’s Beta Alpha Psi chapter, an international honor society for accounting, finance and information systems students.
For information about volunteering email: vitatax.csubap@gmail.com
About CSU’s College of Business
Business for a Better World
The College of Business at Colorado State University is an AACSB-accredited business school focused on using business to create a better world.
The College provides programs and career support services to more than 2,500 undergraduate and 1,300 graduate students in top-ranked on-campus and online programs. College faculty impart students with the values, knowledge, and skills to navigate rapidly evolving markets and address global challenges with sustainable business models and practices. Our students are known for their creativity and resilience—resulting in a job offer and placement rate of over 90% within 90 days of graduation and readiness to make a difference locally, nationally, and globally.
The College’s highly ranked programs include its Online MBA degree that is among the 10 largest in the nation and its Impact MBA program recently recognized by Corporate Knights as a top 20 worldwide “Better World MBA” program.
