Bentley Students Providing Free Tax Prep To Waltham Residents

WALTHAM, MA — This tax season, students at Bentley University are providing free tax preparation services to qualified residents of Waltham and surrounding communities.

Bentley’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, a long-running program sponsored by the Bentley Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Center (BSLCE), is a national initiative designed to meet the needs of low- and limited-income earners, including the elderly, people with disabilities, and taxpayers with limited English proficiency. To reach these clients, the IRS works with thousands of nonprofit partners around the country, all of which are staffed by IRS-trained and -certified volunteers.

Bentley volunteers are undergraduate and graduate students in the university’s Accounting programs. The program director, John Casassa ’17 MST ’18, is a Bentley alumnus who participated in the program as an undergraduate and now works a supervisor with AAFCPAs, a New England-based CPA and consulting firm that encourages community engagement.

“With VITA, students have an opportunity to bring their tax knowledge and skills from the classroom to the community,” Casassa said in a statement.

“VITA is a great way for students to develop the civic skills they’ll need to succeed as tax professionals,” he continued. “Learning how to communicate effectively and build relationships with clients is incredibly important, but most students don’t experience that until they have an internship or start working full-time.”

Students can also earn academic credit by participating in VITA. The BSLCE offers a 4th Credit Option for students who want to enhance their academic experience by incorporating a community service component within an existing course.

“The most rewarding thing about VITA is seeing the stress relief we provide,” said Annalisa Souza, a 2021 program participant who now serves as a BSCLE program manager, in a statement. “Tax time is stressful for everyone, but especially for people who might not have access to the same resources we do or the same technological literacy that we have. Being that calm presence for people makes a big difference.”

For more information on Bentley’s VITA program, click here.