Wilton Student Provides Tax Assistance to Lower-Income Families

WILLTON, CT -- Jerry Herrera of Wilton was among the thirty student interns and volunteers from Eastern Connecticut State University who participated in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program this past spring, serving 1,317 people who received $2,934,056 in refunds and credits. Herrera is a member of the class of 2020 and majors in accounting.

VITA volunteers are IRS-certified and provide free tax-preparation and submission services to lower-income families and individuals.

Eastern's accounting program has worked with VITA for 20 years. "Our students run the program and provide all the time and effort," said Accounting Professor Mohd RuJoub, who brought the program to Eastern in 1998 when he joined the faculty. "They invest thousands of hours in the program yearly."

VITA's tax services were available from Jan. 24 to April 17, 2018, to individuals and families with incomes up to $54,000 at 24 VITA sites in the Greater Hartford and Windham regions and five VITA sites in New Britain.
Eastern students primarily served at Windham Heights in Willimantic, the Putnam Public Library, Community Renewal Team, Inc. in Hartford, Manchester Community College and the Stafford Public Library.

The organizations that oversee VITA and train volunteers in northeastern Connecticut include United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, The Village, and the Human Resources Agency of New Britain.

Overall, the region's 500 VITA volunteers contributed 35,500 hours of volunteer time, with an estimated value of $1 million.

Image via Shutterstock.