For the past eight years, the Ithaca College Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program has provided free tax service, including preparation and advice to members of the Ithaca College community. We are pleased to announce that we will again be offering this service.
The Ithaca College VITA team is comprised of senior accounting majors. Each member has completed a senior-level federal income tax course, which incorporates VITA training materials provided by the IRS. Each student volunteer has passed the required VITA exam and is certified by the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. The team is supervised by an accounting faculty member who is also the VITA Site Coordinator.
The main objective of the Ithaca College VITA team is to provide each taxpayer with the highest quality tax return. Upon completion of the tax return, each taxpayer will be asked to return to the VITA site for an exit interview. At that time, the taxpayer will receive a final copy of his/her 2004 tax return which, in most cases, will be electronically filed.
Please note: Demand for this service is high. In the 2003 tax season, approximately 100 requests were received in the first three days of the program. If this is the situation again this year, please be advised that it may require one to two weeks to process tax returns. To those individuals whose needs require immediate filing, we apologize in advance.
We have been asked by our IRS regional director to follow newly established gross income limitations for the 2004 tax season.
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Low Income Taxpayers |
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$30,000 per tax return |
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or |
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$23,275 per individual and 7,950 per exemption |
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Family |
2 |
31,225 |
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3 |
39,175 |
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4 |
47,125 |
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5 |
55,075 |
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Ithaca College Employees |
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Single |
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35,000 |
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Head of Household |
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45,000 |
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Joint (Married) |
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70,000 |
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Hopefully, these new income level guidelines will permit us to continue tax services to many of our loyal tax clientele. However, a substantial number of former tax clients will no longer meet established gross income guidelines. We regret this inconvenience and hope you acquire alternative tax preparation assistance early, so as to file a timely return.
The program officially commences on Monday, January 31, 2005, and concludes March 31. For appointments, contact VITA at 274-3661 or vita@ithaca.edu.
Contributed by Alan Cohen
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20050120114403316