QCC Students Work Remotely to Continue Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program through April

WORCESTER, MA— April 6, 2020 — Quinsigamond Community College students and their instructor Eduardo Rivas are offering free remote tax preparation until the end of April. This free income tax preparation service is available to individuals who meet any one of the following requirements: household income is $56,000 or less, the elderly, those with disabilities, and limited English speakers who need assistance in preparing their tax returns.

Mr. Rivas is the volunteer coordinator for the City of Worcester’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, in addition to being a QCC adjunct faculty member and Admissions Enrollment Counselor. Until the recent state closure of all non-essential businesses, Mr. Rivas and his 50 volunteers (both QCC students and trained volunteers from the community) had prepared over 300 tax returns. The returns were prepared at both the Main South Community Development Corporation and at QCC’s Community Learning Hub, located at Great Brook Valley. The need was so great that there were times when 14 preparers were working at the two sites. Mr. Rivas wanted to continue to help those in the community, who might still need to get their taxes prepared, which is why he decided to continue preparing tax returns remotely.

A total of 10 QCC students will be working on any tax returns received through the end of April. The students are part of Mr. Riva’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance course, which introduces students to concepts and languages of the IRS and taxation. Students in the course all become certified tax preparers before they are allowed to volunteer to prepare federal and state taxes. The course also requires students to complete 12, three-hour volunteer sessions. This is the second year the course has been offered and nine former students from last year’s class came back to volunteer again this year.

“This class is truly rewarding. I also enjoy doing the necessary work and enjoy working with the clients as well as the volunteers. I see such a diverse group of people who come and have been through so much. I am glad that we can help, and in the same way help ourselves by gaining experience and skills,” said current QCC student Joe Ramos, an accounting certificate major.

According to Mr. Rivas, the students are working on returns for their own family and friends and waiting to pitch in with preparing other returns as needed.

“I have received emails from a lot of my volunteers expressing their willingness to help me in preparing returns remotely, or with any other projects related to the VITA project during this time,” Mr. Rivas said. “I have divided all the work among the QCC students, but I also have other volunteers who are willing to help me if needed. The plan is that if we start getting a lot of clients who contact us by email and the QCC students cannot handle the work, I will ask the other volunteers to support us.”

Anyone who meets the income requirements and is still interested in getting their tax returns prepared can email vita [at] qcc.mass.edu. For more information, visit Volunteer Income Tax Assistance.

For more information on QCC, contact Josh Martin, Director of Institutional Communications at 508.854.7513 or jmartin [at] qcc.mass.edu