Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (VITA/TCE)
A VITA/TCE volunteer assists taxpayers in completing federal and state income tax returns and answering basic taxpayer questions.
What Is the Volunteer Program?
VITA/TCE
These volunteer programs help individuals with low income and/or over the age of 60 prepare their state and federal income tax returns. Assistance is available from February 1 to April 15.
VITA program helps taxpayers with basic tax returns. They specialize in assisting disabled taxpayers, those with low to limited income, and non-English speaking taxpayers.
TCE program provides free income tax assistance for middle or low-income taxpayers, giving special attention to those aged 60 and older.
What Is a Site?
A site is a service location where taxpayers can go to ask questions or receive free trained volunteer assistance to complete their federal and state income tax returns.
What Is a Sponsor?
A sponsor is usually a group or organization recruited to organize and manage a VITA/TCE site within their community. This is a very valuable service.
Some sponsor organization examples are:
- Community Centers
- Libraries
- Churches
- Recreation Organizations
- Schools
- Cultural Centers
- Senior Centers
A sponsor's responsibilities may include:
- Recruiting volunteers.
- Scheduling training.
- Providing a site location.
- Scheduling volunteer work hours.
- Publicizing your program.
- Ordering supplies.
- Gathering volunteer statistics.
What Is a Site List?
A site list is a list of all sites (VITA/TCE) that provide assistance in California. We distribute the site list to legislative and congressional offices, social security offices, FTB and IRS information centers, state and locally funded information and referral centers, and other referral organizations. These organizations use the list to refer individuals who need assistance to the volunteer sites.
Can I Be a Volunteer?
VITA/TCE
You can be a volunteer if you:
- Enjoy meeting and helping a variety of people.
- Have experience or enjoy learning about income tax preparation.
- Have some administrative or publicity experience.
- Feel comfortable using a personal computer.
- Take pride in complete and accurate work.
- Are willing to complete the IRS and state training programs.
- Can volunteer some hours from February 1 through April 15.
- Sign up today!
Do You Provide Volunteer Training?
VITA/TCE
FTB and IRS provide free volunteer training. The training provides instructions for simple income tax return preparation, volunteer procedures, and volunteer report completion. Training is approximately 40 hours (32 hours of federal law and procedures, divided into four eight-hour sessions, and one eight-hour state law and procedures session). Many classes offer e-file training in conjunction with the tax law training.
We offer experienced volunteers a condensed version of the class. We also offer Internet based self-study training.
Who Do I Call For More Information About Being a Sponsor or Volunteer?
To get more information on becoming a sponsor or volunteer for the VITA/TCE volunteer programs, contact the Public Education Team.