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You are here to volunteer for VITA.
You may be interested in helping others, learning more about taxes to prepare
your own a little better, want to get into the tax preparation business, or have
too much free time. Here are some reasons quoted by past volunteers:
- Satisfaction of helping people who
are unable to get tax breaks and benefits the qualify for
because they cannot afford to go to a paid preparer for
help.
- Get trained in tax law, learn how to interact
with the public, and improve own tax returns.
- Enjoy the camaraderie of a group of really nice
helpful people.
- Gain experience in preparing taxes
to start a new career.
- Bridge communication gap between tax payer and VITA
volunteers if you are multi-lingual.
Whatever your reason,
realize that this is only your first step in the volunteering process.
Different sites, counties and regions recruit
and train volunteers differently, and sometimes in multiple ways. There is
no single solution for everybody. Site
coordinators may recruit new volunteers, contact past volunteers, and/or rely on
local, regional or national for-profit and non-profit organizations. If you come across such outreach efforts,
following up may be the most effective approach.
If you do not come across any of these outreach
efforts, you can try to contact the IRS directly by phone. However, many
have found this to be a long and involved process.
This site offers to get your name directly to the
IRS. Originally it took sign-ups for volunteers serving in Santa Clara County, Ca.
However, the large number of volunteers interested in serving in other counties who needed
information and filled those forms caused a problem for the local IRS office.
Now your contact information, comments and preferences are automatically emailed to VITA headquarters,
and eventually find their
way to the local IRS office and then to the group in charge of volunteers, or to
site coordinators, for further action. The website and webmaster do not get involved in the distribution or assignment of
volunteers to sites.
Some site coordinators in Santa Clara county who
know the webmaster personally requested that inquiries of interested
volunteers be sent directly to them as well.
The
webmaster will email the inquiries to VITA headquarters and to the site coordinator
directly if the potential volunteer so chooses, but generally will not track what happens in each case.
This service is offered to a limited number of site coordinators in all counties who request it and
whose identity and site are verified by the IRS.
Additional
information relevant to volunteers in Santa Clara County is also provided on
this website. The webmaster will put up training
schedules and site listings from other sites or institutions upon request.
Still
interested?
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