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More than a half dozen students studying Accounting at LaGrange College gave their time to help residents in need file their income tax returns at the Goodwill Career Center in LaGrange.

The students are part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program at LaGrange College, where accounting students volunteer to help individuals with their taxes. The program is a service-learning course where students meet for an hour every week in class and volunteer 30 hours over the semester. 

Samantha Sick, Assistant Professor of Accounting at LaGrange College, said she started volunteering with VITA as an undergrad at the University of Georgia, which is how she learned about the program.

“When I came to LaGrange College two years ago, we started volunteering then, so [its] two years of partnership,” Sick said.

Some of the students have been involved with the program for multiple years. Students need to be juniors to take the class, so underclassmen can intern to help out with the program early.

Kenneth Howard, a sophomore Accounting major, is interning with the program and plans to officially take the class next year.

In his short time helping, Howard estimated he has helped 45-55 people with their taxes.

Being able to help people that can not afford to get help on their taxes is Howard’s favorite part about interning with the program.

“I love accountancy. I love tax. I love just understanding the process of things. But what I take most from this job is being able to talk with people, being able to just interact and know their stories, getting to just joke around and laugh with them,” Howard said.

The free tax prep is available for residents making $67,000 or less. Howard said they aren’t really trained to do super complicated taxes anyway.

“If you’re making over $100,000, we can’t do your taxes because it’s too complicated,” Howard said, noting they aren’t CPAs but they can determine if you can get a better deal than the standard deduction.

“All of the students are trained and certified by the IRS to do tax returns, but they are still students,” Sick said.

“The VITA program has helped me tremendously in learning about taxes. I am so grateful that I was able to get this opportunity to work here with them. If I was just in class, learning and just taking notes, I would not be able to get the hands-on experience,” Howard said.

Tax prep assistants will be at the Goodwill Career Center until April 15, but call ahead to set up an appointment.

For more information, contact the Goodwill Career Center at (706) 884 – 4451.