On VITA and Volunteers

From the website http://www.vita-volunteers.org/ .....

"Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) volunteers provide FREE Income Tax Preparation Assistance to low-Income, elderly, disabled and limited English speaking people. Volunteers get FREE training and certification by the IRS"......

Training in Tax Law relevant to the clients who are served by VITA sites is provided in classrooms and online. There is abundant reference material provided that it is possible to self-study, but it is generally helpful in understanding and absorbing the material in the classroom because of the discussion and exchange of ideas. The end goal of the training is to pass an untimed open book exam based on the training material. The exam can be taken online through the web, or in the classroom where the test is included as part of training material. If a passing grade is not achieved the first time, there is the opportunity to take a retest. It is not clear how to get certified if a volunteer does not get the passing grade. However, with a little bit of thought and some resourcefulness, the determined volunteer can generally get certified quite easily even after not making it in two attempts.