Mention the word “taxes” and the phrase “win-win” would rarely come to mind for most
people.
But that’s exactly how Trine University senior Grant Holbrook of Clinton, Michigan,
described a new class that allows accounting students to help low- to moderate-income
Steuben County residents through the dreaded annual task.
Holbrook is one of five students in the university’s MGT 493 Voluntary Income Tax
Assistance class this semester. Each Wednesday through April 11, the students work
from 3:30-6:30 p.m. in the Carnegie Public Library of Steuben County to complete tax
forms for residents with annual income of $54,000 and below.
The Trine class is operating as an Angola branch of the Voluntary Income Tax Assistance
(VITA) program offered by Catholic Charities. VITA served more than 1,000 Steuben
County residents last year, the eighth year of the program, according to Terri Hull
of Catholic Charities.
Hull said adding the Trine students has allowed VITA to offer more evening hours in
Steuben County.
“We have a lot of people who work and can’t come during the day who will come over
here, so it’s a lot more convenient to them,” she said.
The class is the brainchild of Jeff McGowan, assistant professor in Trine University’s
Ketner School of Business. McGowan served in VITA programs while working on his undergraduate
degree and MBA.
“After graduating, when they requested CPA assistance at a site location, for many
years I offered my services to answer ‘tougher’ questions,” he said.
When McGowan came to Trine, he started working to bring the program to the university
as a way to provide practical experience to students while helping community members.
“I saw what a great program it was for my undergrad/grad university, and hoped to
be able to bring it Trine,” he said.
Over the first four sessions of the class, the students worked to earn certification
so they could participate as “advanced” preparers for VITA, a national program administered
by the Internal Revenue Service. Once certified, they began offering sessions at the
library in February.
The Trine students meet with clients and input their information into software, which
is reviewed by McGowan and sent to Catholic Charities for electronic filing.
“The first week we were here everybody was really nervous. We didn’t know what to
expect,” said Colin Galloway, a senior from Reading, Michigan. “But thanks to the
courses we’ve taken at Trine and the experience we’ve had previously, we all felt
much more comfortable after meeting our first client. After that, the atmosphere became
much more relaxed.”
McGowan said the group assisted 60 residents with taxes over their first five weeks,
and he hopes to serve more than 100 total before April 15.
“In addition to giving back to community, it is a real learning process for the students
in having to think on their feet quickly, dealing with people’s confidential information
and learning how to inquire deeper into some areas where the client needs to give
more detail,” he said.
Brian LeGalley, a senior from Bowling Green, Ohio, said the opportunity to take what
he has learned in his Trine classes and use it to help people drew him to the program.
“It’s trying to relate some of the problems we had in class and then seeing them in
a different light with real people and real numbers,” he said.
“Each client is different in their own way, and it’s good because we get to see taxes
from a variety of standpoints,” said Ethan Kirkman, a senior from Oregon, Ohio. Kirkman
and Galloway, who both already had 18 credit hours, are taking the class as volunteers
rather than for course credit.
Senior Kayla Spande, from Mapleton, Minnesota, said the class gives her the opportunity
to try a branch of accounting she won’t experience in her planned career of corporate
finance and accounting.
“I’ve really enjoyed getting to meet a lot of people from the Angola area who remember
when different buildings around town were different things, long before I ever came
to Angola,” she said. “It’s cool to get to know them on a personal level while helping
with something they need help with.”
Though clients don’t always enjoy the tax process, the students said they get mostly
positive feedback.
“They are really impressed that in spite of how young we are, we appear to know what
we’re doing,” LeGalley said.
In addition to assisting local residents and helping the Trine students develop and
practice their skills, Hull said the VITA program provides an economic benefit to
the community.
“People can go to some of the predatory tax places and pay, two, three or four hundred
dollars to get their taxes done,” she said. “That’s two, three or four hundred dollars
that’s not coming back into the community through a refund.”
Photo: Trine University senior Ethan Kirkman, from Oregon, Ohio, assists a client with preparing
a tax return during a Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) session at the Carnegie
Public Library of Steuben County. (Photo by Dean Orewiler)
