Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program
Northeastern State University’s partnership with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) has had another successful year with the support from College of Business faculty, Amber Whisenhunt. There have been numerous taxpayers in the NSU community that have benefited from VITA, in order to have their taxes completed for free.
This partnership has also enabled current accounting majors an experiential learning opportunity during their degree. Incorporated into the accounting tax practicum course, students are able to gain 10 weeks of tax return experience with real world clients.
Since 2007 on NSU’s Broken Arrow campus, the VITA program has been facilitated through different NSU faculty. Amber Whisenhunt has looked after the program since her hiring in 2019. A tax professional herself, she sees VITA as a long term opportunity for students to improve their skills in the tax field by getting IRS training and certification while volunteering their time to help others.
An NSU alumni, who is now involved as the program manager for VITA is Victoria Annesley. After being introduced to the program while being a student, she continued to volunteer after her graduation and now works full time for the initiative. Victoria says she “loves what the program offers not only to students with hands-on learning experiences, but also helping out the community by allowing taxpayers to not have to pay fees to file their taxes.”
The VITA partnership is also a chance for students hoping to receive their Certified Public Accountant (CPA) to fulfill the requirements in order to sit for the exam. Students are able to work towards their CPA, during their college courses so they can receive their CPA faster.
Senior Anthony Zumwalt, an accounting major from Broken Arrow, is one of the students currently taking this class with the aspirations to receive his CPA. When asked about his overall experience with the course he said, “The VITA program has been a wonderful experience for me and has enriched my learning and future in several ways. First, VITA has been a valuable supplement to my tax accounting I class, acting as a sort of experiential laboratory for what is taught in the course. Secondly, my experience with the VITA program helps me fulfill the requirements to sit for the CPA exam, which is my ultimate goal. Lastly, I am a servant at heart, so having the opportunity to help lower income individuals complete their tax returns at no cost is a great way for me to give back to my community.”
The VITA program has been an important part of the NSU curriculum since its integration with the accounting program. It has made an impact on NSU's students, faculty and alumni, with those who become involved remaining active within the program. There are students that continue to volunteer their time after they complete the course and even those who are involved after their graduation from NSU.
For more information about taking the accounting tax practicum course or a volunteering opportunity, open also to non-accounting majors, please contact Amber Whisenhunt at whisen05@nsuok.edu.
