Penn College Students Help Area Residents File 195 Tax Returns

Harrisburg PA

28 April, 2022

6:15 PM

Description

By NCPA Staff, NorthCentralPA.com April 28, 2022 Students of Pennsylvania College of Technology participated in an on-campus Volunteer Income Tax Assistance event that provided tax-filing assistance to members of the Greater Williamsport community. Tax returns from the event totaled $238,036 in federal tax refunds and $7,135 in state tax refunds. VITA is an IRS program that offers free basic tax return preparation to qualified individuals and is often performed through colleges and universities. Twenty-one students in accounting or business administration: banking & finance majors provided the assistance, under the leadership of Robert M. Nolan, instructor of business administration/accounting and finance and a certified public accountant, and intern Kiran S. Singh, a Penn College accounting student from Williamsport. The college's VITA site was open from February 7 to April 5. "This is a wonderful service for the local community and a great hands-on learning experience for our students, providing free tax preparation for fellow students and local community members that meet certain income requirements," Nolan said. "The IRS sponsors this service and all of our students enrolled in the program get trained and certified by the IRS at the beginning of the spring semester in order to prepare tax returns. With an increase in student enrollment in the class this year, we were able to offer additional hours and prepare more returns than in years past." Nolan said that Singh was a "tremendous help" in managing the increased traffic. "She assisted in every aspect of the program, from reviewing returns before I did my review to contacting all the taxpayers and scheduling them," he said. "Not sure how I would have gotten through it this year without her help, especially with the number of returns we ended up doing – 195!" Singh plans to graduate in December with a bachelor's degree in accounting. She's also pursuing minors in business analytics and communication studies. NorthcentralPa.com provides the region with reliable, relevant, and real-time news, covering weather, community news and events, crime, police activity, local, regional, and national alerts, and PennDOT-reported road construction and conditions. We report on local and regional politics, offer a platform for nonprofits to report their news and events, and share obituaries. Scanner reports let readers know what's happening outside their homes the minute it happens.