Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Volunteer Recruitment Flyer.docx
This page contains the training videos and information about upcoming events related to the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program. Download the document below for a recommended schedule for completing the training videos.
VITA Sites: Locations and Times
Tax season starts at the end of January and runs through mid-April
I am one of the site coordinators at the Western Avenue Community Center at 600 N. Western Ave. in Bloomington. We are open on Fridays from 10 am – 2 pm.
The other locations are run by Bill Bartley. He can be contacted at bbfb1968@gmail.com or bnfreetaxservices@gmail.com. The locations and times for these other sites are as follows:
- Bloomington Housing Authority, 104 E. Wood Street, Bloomington, Monday’s 5:00-8:00pm, Saturday’s 9:00am-12:00pm
- Heartland Community College, 1500 W. Raab Road, Normal (Room WDC 3601 & 3602) Tuesday’s 5:00-8:00pm and Thursday’s 5:00-8:00pm
- Normal Senior Center (ARC), 700 E. Willow, Normal, Friday’s 9:30-2:30pm (Appointments accepted)
- Mid Central Community Action Center, 1301 W. Washington St., Bloomington, Wednesday’s 5:00-8:00pm.
If you are interested in volunteering at one of these sites, please contact Bill Bartley at one of the e-mail addresses provided.
Certification Training/Test Dates: First two Fridays in November
We will have two sessions where you can work on the certification test. In the past, these have been held on the first two Fridays in November. Exact times and locations will be posted soon.
The plan for these sessions is for volunteers to work on answering the test and retest questions from the Form 6744 test booklet. Prof. Mitchell and others will be available if you have questions while working on the certification test. It is recommended that you watch all the training videos before coming. However, please come even if you have not watched all the videos. Bring headphones or earbuds so if you need to watch a video for the first time or to review one while completing the test, you can do so. Remember, the certification is open note, open book.
If you haven’t attended an information meeting, you can view the PowerPoint below.
Fall 2016
2016 Publications
Training Videos
The following videos will walk you through the basics of a individual tax return and the process for preparing a tax return at a VITA site. You should view these videos in the order they are listed. When you watch a video, I recommend viewing it as full screen so you are able to see the details.
Below the videos are the PowerPoint presentations with notes that I used to create the videos. You may wish to download the PowerPoint before watching a video so you can take notes as you watch it.
The first two videos introduce you to the inidivdual tax return (Form 1040) and the primary resource you will use to help you prepare tax returns (Publication 4012). Before you watch these two videos, download the form and the publication above (f1040 and p4012). Print the Form 1040 (it’s only 2 pages). Publication 4012 is pretty long, don’t let that scare you. For right now, just print off the table of contents and pages K-1 and K-2. Now you’re ready to watch the first two videos.
Personal and Dependency Exemptions
When you get to the part of the video that covers page C-4, please refer to the notes in the PowerPoint document. What I say on the video is slightly different than what is in the notes. After recording the video, I realized I had not explained the tiebreaker rules as clearly as I would have liked. The notes are more precise than what I say in the video.
The first 10 videos you have watched cover the front page of the Form 1040. The upcoming videos will cover topics from the back page of the Form 1040.
Video #13 – Part II: Education Credits, Part 2
Part I
Video #17: Affordable Care Act
Certification Test
Please view the video below regarding the certification test process.
Before going to the online certification, you should have answered all of the test and retest questions for the Volunteer Standards of Conduct test, Intake/Interview and Quality Review test, and the Basic Certification test from the Form 6744 test/retest booklet. If you would like feedback on your answers before going online, you may e-mail the answers to me (lmitch2@ilstu.edu) by completing and attaching the Excel file available below (Answer_Sheet_2016_Tax_Year). You must score at least 80% on each test to be certified. If you do not achieve 80% on your first attempt, DO NOT attempt it a second time until you have checked your answers with me. You only get two attempts.
The website for the online certification generally becomes available in November.
https://www.linklearncertification.com/d/
You will need to create a login and password for this site. Please make a note of your login and password because you may need to access the site again. Also, this login and password will be different from the one you will have for the tax software.
Once you have completed the certification test online, make sure you download and save your Volunteer Agreement (Form 13615). You are now ready to volunteer!! The locations of the 5 VITA sites in Bloomington Normal are listed at the top of the page. See which times and locations work with your schedule. E-mail your Form 13615 and the times/locations you will volunteer at to me at lmitch2@ilstu. If you are volunteering at a site other than the Western Avenue one, please also e-mail the same information to Bill Bartley at the e-mails given.