Judging from the topic you might be wondering what “IRS School” is. “IRS School” is what I called my Saturdays during October through December. Last year I signed up to be a V.I.T.A. volunteer, which stands for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. V.I.T.A is a free program provided by the IRS to the elderly and low to moderate income families. The program also helps people with disabilities and limited English speaking taxpayers who need assistance in preparing their own tax returns. My intentions of volunteering for the V.I.T.A program was to learn a bit more about taxes and being taught by the IRS was a plus. I was nervous about starting the program, maybe I wouldn’t be able to juggle the workload plus my school work and other extracurricular activities.
When I received the email that I was accepted I was less nervous because at this point I was all in. My IRS classes were every Saturday from 9 A, M. through 3 P.M. There were also a strict miss two classes and you’re out rule. The classes also follow a strict syllabus which all IRS V.I.T.A. training classes follow. My first day was an introduction to the class and teachers who were going to be teaching us. The teachers were a combination of IRS Employees, Enrolled agents and Certified Tax preparers who run and operate their own businesses. My impressions of the teachers were ecstatic, maybe because they were all female and I was proud to see women dominating tax preparation, also they were respectful and very knowledgeable about taxes. As someone who knew little about taxes, hey answered every question to my satisfaction. They shared with all the students their own real world experience about preparing taxes and the good and bad about interacting with clients. The other students in my class were mainly Spanish speakers ranging from ages 22 and up. I was the youngest in my class but everyone was always willing to help each other and everyone was open and welcoming.
In my class were enrolled agents and certified tax preparers, they were taking this class to get credit towards their licenses. After all the introductions we hit the ground the running, the IRS built a very good website called link and learn. The website has all the resources volunteers need to complete their certification, learn and review each course. All V.I.T.A. volunteers need to be certified before they prepare any tax returns at the V.I.T.A. sites. The course load itself was a lot to take in, plus I had my regular school work to complete. Each week I would complete my assigned school work and then do my “IRS School work”. The last three classes were computer labs. During these labs we did practice returns, we were given scenarios with different problems that we had to solve, we also got to use the software the IRS uses to prepare taxes. The practice returns felt very real and although there was room for mistakes we all knew what not to do when we prepare tax returns for clients. The mandatory certifications to be an active V.I.T.A. volunteer are the Volunteer Standards of Conduct, Intake/Interview and Quality Review, Basic and Advanced.
Aside from these four exams, there are also Military, International, Health Savings Accounts, Foreign Student and Puerto Rico Levels one and two. Myself being the overachiever that I am, took all four mandatory exams plus the Health Savings Account exam. The passing score on each exam was an 80%. The exams were very comprehensive and though, I had to prepare tax returns in order to complete my exam. I did have to retake my Advanced exam because I first failed it, but I wasn’t too worried about my retaking it because my teachers stayed after class and helped me understand what I was doing wrong. Becoming a V.I.T.A. volunteer was a long road but it taught me more about taxes. I can’t wait to start preparing tax returns this tax season and in the future. I would also encourage more people to volunteer for the IRS V.I.T.A program if interested. Programs like these would help people get their taxes done for free and no one would take advantage of people who do not know anything about taxes.