Volunteer Opportunties

 

Volunteer Tax Preparer

We are no longer looking for volunteers at this time. We will begin recruiting volunteers for the 2008 tax season (January to April 2009) in October.

NYCfNAC is looking for volunteers to administer our FREE tax preparation services to low income tax filers during the upcoming 2007 tax season (January to April 2008).  All volunteers will be trained and placed at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites operated by community-based credit unions in East Harlem and the Lower East Side in Manhattan, and Bedford Stuyvesant and Bushwick in Brooklyn.  Last year, our program generated $6.98 million in tax refunds for nearly 5,000 low-income households.

 

The credit unions with which NYCfNAC works are non-profit, financial cooperatives dedicated to promoting economic opportunity for their members and furthering the economic development of their communities.  They are owned and governed by their members, not by outside shareholders. 

 

The VITA Program was established by NYCfNAC and its credit unions in response to commercial tax preparation firms that charge low-income taxpayers excessive fees and encourage them to borrow their refunds at high interest rates.  Your help is needed to permit these families to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and receive all the refunds they are due.  An estimated $500 million per year is being lost to New York City residents by EITC-eligible families that do not claim their refunds. At our sites we also promote financial literacy and offer filers, particularly the unbanked, the opportunity to open accounts with our credit unions, so that they can receive their refunds quickly by direct deposit, and enter the financial mainstream.

 

Volunteer tax preparers will be asked to:

• Work 3- 4 hours per week during the 13-week tax season (Jan 14 – Apr 15)
• Complete a basic self-study course on-line by mid-December and receive a passing score on a posttest to receive IRS certification
• Attend two (2) in-person training sessions on tax law and TaxWise software in December
• Attend an orientation session at your site in mid-January 

(Training and tax preparer certification will be provided by NYCfNAC and the IRS)

 

We are looking for interested individuals with:

• Prior tax preparation skills or a strong accounting background a strong plus
• Strong computer skills required
• Bilingual individuals who speak Spanish are also needed

 

To volunteer, please contact Melissa Grober, NYCfNAC's VITA Director, at 718-260-0099 ext. 104 or e-mail her at: mgrober@nycfnac.org.  Please provide a phone number. Thank you.