Tax center has one of lowest return rejection rates
Released: October 27, 2005
Each year taxpayers toil with the question ‘Should I do my own taxes or should I take them to a tax preparation company?’ Local residents can look no further than the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Center. Run by the university’s accounting department, the VITA Center was recently recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as having one of the lowest income tax return rejection rates in Wisconsin in 2004 for sites similar in size. UW-Whitewater’s center electronically processed 160 federal and state income taxes in 2004, an increase of 105 from 2003.
The VITA Center at UW-Whitewater is staffed by “Income Tax E-Filing Clinic” students and is operated through the IRS VITA program. The program offers free tax preparation services to UW-Whitewater students and low-income residents in the community. Residents with an annual income of $40,000 or less are eligible for this program.
UW-Whitewater’s Income Tax Assistance Program began several years ago, where accounting students, in conjunction with the Beta Alpha Psi accounting fraternity, prepared returns manually. Last year was the first year the VITA Center filed income taxes electronically. Project Coordinator and Assistant Professor in UW-Whitewater’s accounting department Richard Cummings said, “Most first year sites have a high rejection rate due to inexperience, so I think the IRS was impressed that UW-Whitewater had one of the lowest income tax return rejection rates its first year.”
Mark Laing, tax specialist for the IRS said, “Richard Cummings and the volunteers at UW-Whitewater’s VITA Center are instrumental leaders in promoting the program resulting in its success.”
For more information, contact Richard Cummings at (262) 473-3936 or cummingr@uww.edu.
- Shauna Stevens,stevenssm26@uww.edu
