Students, faculty take tax prep assistance to new level

Office of Communications & Marketing |Northeastern State University
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. -- For at least 20 years NSU has assisted members of the community with tax preparation through a partnership with the IRS called Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA). This year instead of individually preparing tax returns for the community, volunteers will help NSU-Tahlequah community members prepare their own taxes, using the MyFreeTaxes website. The service, called Facilitated Self Assistance (FSA), is available to everyone that has income less than $58,000.

We hope that this will provide a better experience for the community, said Dr. John Yeutter, associate professor of accounting. With a large computer lab, a small number of students and faculty can assist more people than when we prepared taxes one by one. This should reduce the wait-times we have had the past several years.

Trained students and faculty volunteers will be available in the computer lab of the Business and Technology building of the NSU-Tahlequah campus, room BT B8 in the buildings basement on Tuesdays from 3-6 p.m. to answer questions. The tax preparation services begin Feb. 4.-April 15. For more information, call Dr. John Yeutter at 918.444.2968.

NSUBA will remain full-serve Vita and The VITA Lab at NSUBA is open on Mondays and Thursdays from 5:30-8 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1:30-4:30 p.m. in room 118 of the library. Appointments can be made by calling Community Action at 918.486.2471.
Accounting students and faculty will be available to help with questions, and to check the returns if needed.

The advantage of providing assistance on campus is that if someone has a question, we can provide in-person answers, while they prepare their own returns, said Yeutter.

Those seeking assistance with tax preparation should come prepared with all necessary forms, information for each household member and other items such as childcare expenses or other costs that one thinks might affect their tax filing, and bank account numbers to have their refunds deposited automatically into their bank account through direct deposit.

MyFreeTaxes partnership provides free federal and state tax preparation. It is easy, safe and secure. MyFreeTaxes helped 4.5 million families claim nearly $6 billion in tax credits and refunds since 2009. Their tax filing software is provided by H&R Block and they are now in their sixth year of providing free tax preparation and filing assistance to individuals and families who qualify.

In addition, NSU will provide a link to the MyFreeTaxes website; anyone with total income under $58,000 can access it from there, wherever there is internet access.