Hundreds of residents have taken advantage of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, which provides free income tax return preparation and filing for low-income families, and hundreds more have signed up.

“It's been very, very busy. We have six sites going,” said Jean Bowen, VITA coordinator.

Most of the 350 people who have already had their returns prepared by VITA's team of 61 trained, volunteer preparers have come through the VITA office in the Center for Community Resources in Butler, Bowen said.

Another 300 to 400 people have scheduled appointments, which are required, to have their taxes done at the six area offices, she said.

The program offers free tax preparation for households with income less than $50,000. Landlords and people going through a foreclosure or bankruptcy do not qualify.

The 71 volunteers include 61 tax return preparers who take a two-day Internal Revenue Service training seminar offered at Slippery Rock University and Butler County Community College in December and January, Bowen said. Many preparers are students at those schools.

“It is an IRS program. They sponsor it,” she said.

Preparers check each other's work, and the double-checking resulted in the IRS last year accepting the vast majority of the returns done by VITA on the first filing.

“Every return has a second set of eyes on it. Every return is reviewed. We take our reviewing seriously,” Bowen said. “Ninety-nine percent of our returns were accepted on the first filing by the IRS.”

One of those second sets of eyes belongs to Dan Terwilliger, 22, of Butler, a senior accounting and finance major at Slippery Rock.

Terwilliger first volunteered as a preparer two years ago when he was studying at BC3 after Bowen made a presentation to students about VITA.

He skipped last year, but is volunteering again this year as a preparer and reviewer after taking the advanced certification training.

“I'm a double major in accounting and finance with a minor in information systems. It's an excellent opportunity to get experience in the tax field. You get to work with a variety of customers as well, which helps develop customer relations skills,” said Terwilliger, who is using his work for VITA as an internship that he hopes will get him six academic credits.

However, volunteering with VITA is about more than gaining work experience or college credits, he said.

“Giving back is the most rewarding part for me,” Terwilliger said.

He said some students volunteer with VITA for an internship, some do it for the experience, and some return just to volunteer after earning credits.

Last year, VITA volunteers logged 6,302 hours from the end of January to April 15, preparing 2,436 returns from four area sites. The average income of those households was $18,503, Bowen said. They received more than $1 million tax credits and $4.2 million in refunds, she said.

There are some changes in federal income tax rules of which taxpayers should be aware, Bowen said. The 1040 A and EZ forms have been eliminated, the standard deduction has been doubled, the exemption for dependents has been eliminated and the child tax credit was increased based on income, she said.

VITA's other offices are located at Slippery Rock University, the Cranberry Township municipal building, St. Luke's Lutheran School in Cabot, Trinity Lutheran Church in Butler, and Harvest Community Church in Kittanning.

Appointments can be made by calling VITA at 724-431-3767.