By Bailey Carver, communications, Personal Money Management Center

Tax season has arrived and the Personal Money Management Center is excited to help you. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) is a program that offers free tax help to individuals who make $52,000 or less. We are proud to say that the University of Utah has had a VITA free tax clinic on its campus for the past six years and 2017 will be no different. We will be partnering with Beta Alpha Psi to help you complete your taxes with ease.

Our clinic opened on Feb. 6 in the Union Basement Computer Lab. Trained volunteers are on site to help you complete your taxes online during our open lab hours. This year there is also the opportunity to file your taxes online by going to My Free Taxes (be sure to click the left box that says file for free). For all information on what to bring to the VITA tax clinic visit Beta Alpha Psi’s website.

Over the past six years, VITA has helped 1,843 student’s file their taxes and saved them over $50,000 in fees for other tax services. Popular software charges $130 per service to complete and file a tax report. However, this year you have the opportunity to use the same software for free.

A note for international students: International Student and Scholar Services Office will be emailing you information to complete your taxes online through an entirely automated service. You should be expecting these emails to your UMail, keep an eye out.

What to expect at our clinic

• NOTE: We will not be doing your taxes for you. Rather you will prepare your own taxes with easy to follow H&R Block software. We will have certified volunteers there for any questions you may have while preparing your taxes.
• At our site, someone will greet you and set you up on a computer. If there are no computers available when you come in you may use your laptop, if you have one. The greeter will make sure you are setup properly.
• When you have completed your taxes, before you file them, be sure to have a volunteer do a quality review to ensure that major credits and deductions were not missed.
• After you have completed the process, we will have you save a copy of your tax return for your files. Also, we will ask you if you would like to fill out an optional survey to see what we can do better next year to assist you.

Our hours are as follows:
Monday 12:30-4:30 p.m.
Tuesday 12:30-4:30 p.m.
Wednesday 4-8 p.m.
Thursday 2-6 p.m.
Friday 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Location
Union Basement Computer Lab
200 S. Central Campus Dr.