Introduction
Becoming certified as
Vita Tax Preparer requires satisfactory completion
of an open book test each year.
Annual certification is required even if you are a
Tax Professional. The purpose of the open book
test is to make sure you are familiar with filling
tax forms and can follow instructions; the passing
grade is 70% of the multiple choice questions; if
you do not pass a section, you can take a retest.
Tax Preparation
Certified VITA Tax
Preparer volunteers may assist certain taxpayers.
Tax returns prepared by VITA volunteers are
considered self-prepared by the taxpayer. VITA
volunteers do not sign the tax returns as
individuals; the return includes the Site ID for
statistical and tracking purposes.
The Tax Law Training
teaches the basic concepts of income tax law and is
sufficient for preparing tax returns on paper.
Additional training is required to prepare taxes
electronically. The IRS training for VITA
volunteers does not qualify a volunteer to give tax
advice or complete tax returns for pay;
different requirements apply for preparing tax
returns for pay. In addition, VITA volunteers
prepare simple return.
Tax Preparation
for Pay
The rules and
requirements to become a paid (professional)
tax preparer for federal and California income tax
returns is available on the California Tax Education
Council (CTEC) website. It requires
completion of a certain number of hours of training
each year from a recognized institution, obtaining
a Surety Bond from an Insurance Company, and
registering with the CTEC. People with
certain other professional qualifications may be
exempt from these requirement.
Tax Law Training
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Only Certified VITA Tax Preparer
volunteers may assist taxpayers prepare and e-file their
taxes.
Becoming certified as VITA Tax
Preparer requires satisfactory completion of an open book
test each year. Annual certification is
required even if you are a Tax Professional. The
purpose of the open book test is to make sure you are
familiar with filling tax forms and can follow instructions;
the passing grade is 80% of the multiple choice questions;
if you do not pass a section, you can take a retest.
Tax returns
prepared by VITA volunteers are considered self-prepared by
the taxpayer. VITA volunteers do not sign the tax
returns as individuals; the return includes the Site ID for
statistical and tracking purposes.
Tax Law Training teaches
the basic concepts of income tax law and is sufficient
for preparing tax returns manually on paper.
Additional training is required to prepare taxes
electronically. The IRS training for VITA
volunteers does not qualify a volunteer to give tax
advice or complete tax returns for pay; different
requirements apply for preparing tax returns for pay.
In addition, VITA volunteers prepare simple return.
IRS Tax Law Training options for VITA
Tax Preparers
- IRS Classroom tax
training during
November through January in some IRS owned or
approved locations
-
IRS online training course.
You can do this in the privacy of your own home, at your
own pace, and each time you successfully complete a
module, you can print out a certificate.
- Retired and Senior
Volunteer Program (RSVP)
online training resource site
also
has information of tax law.
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TaxWise E-File Basic and Refresher
Training
TaxWise E-File training is a training session
on using a computer program for completing the return on a
computer. The software for the 2009 Tax year is
TaxWise. In this
training, you will learn to complete the tax return on a
computer and create E-Files of the return. Each
E-File is a computer file ready for transmission by
internet to the IRS and the State. While
there are no formal pre-requisites for the class,
it will be difficult and frustrating if you are not
familiar with a PC or laptop and Microsoft Windows, and
if you are not familiar with Tax Law. If you have
used other tax preparation software in the past, this
training will be easy. This software is different
from software used for preparing tax returns at home
since it supports the preparation of a large number of
tax returns by a person familiar with the software, and
does not have many of the menus and questions that come
with software for individual tax preparation.
TaxWise Transmitter Training
TaxWise Transmitter Training is
a 3 hour training session on the administrative details of transmitting
the E-File to the IRS and State. The pre-requisite is past
experience with TaxWise. You must be very comfortable using a computer and
the internet and TaxWise. You will learn the steps to transmit tax
returns prepared at the site electronically over the internet, and to create or
not create the supporting paperwork (remember that electronic filing is not the
same as paperless filing).
However, all the training is wasted if it is not
used. Another way to learn transmitting is doing while watching.
Potential transmitters should be encouraged to watch the Site E-file transmitter
transmit the returns, and then transmit the return under the watchful eyes of
the transmitter. That way the potential transmitter would become familiar
with the transmitting portion of electronic filing. The other portion,
processing the acknowledgements, and reworking rejects can be picked up a few
hours later.
TaxWise Online is more conducive to this approach
than the Desktop version of Taxwise, since it is possible to deal with
the other steps of receiving and processing the acknowledgement which talking on
the phone to the transmitter. For the desktop version, some arrangement
must be made to access the transmitting computer. One way of accomplishing
this remotely is to use a product like Logmein or GoToMyPC, if the transmitter
is familiar with it.
Additional Training
For those who have undertaken
VITA training, prepared taxes before, are familiar with
TaxWise, and have received their certification, the thought
on Saturday mornings of having to sit through hours of tax
training is pretty unattractive, even with the best of
intentions. Nevertheless, it is of value to be
immersed in these issues so that you are mentally prepared
and up to speed when the site opens the first day of the
season. For
this reason, there will be a quick review session of changes
in the tax laws, and additional training opportunities.
Some coordinators provide additional training to prospective volunteers of their
sites to discuss common problems that occurred in the past which were not
presented in the formal training. Since each site has different approaches
and processes, this could also be a forum for best practices. Active
participation in discussions will be required for greater success during these additional training
sessions.
Here are a set of suggested topics for
volunteers and site coordinators to consider discussing or getting
themselves trained in.
- Tax Law changes
- Orientation to individual sites, by site coordinators
- Orientation to Site Coordination
- Dealing with challenging taxpayers and situations
- Handling ITIN and W-7 situation
- Dealing with First name, last name and SSN issue
- Dealing with filling in California W-2s in TaxWise
- Strategies for using TaxWise effectively
- Transmitter issues
- Computer, network and printer management
- Improve the quality of your returns
- What you can/cannot, should/should not do
- Electronic refunds/payments vs paper refunds/payments
- Training for New Site Coordinators
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