Service Meets Scholarship in Revived Community Tax Assistance Program
Students in ACC-260: Community Tax Assistance had a first-hand experience of what it’s like to be an accountant during tax season this semester by going into the Worcester community to help elderly and low-income individuals prepare and file their tax returns.
After a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Kevin Peterssen ’08, G’12 helped to revive the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program at the University this year. Each week, students in his course went to a VITA site near Clark University run by fellow Greyhound and Quinsigamond Community College professor Eduardo Rivas ’15, G’16 each week to help Worcester residents with tax preparation.
“The class is teaching tax information, but also instilling the ‘it’s larger than me’ mentality,” Peterssen says. “The whole point is to foster the idea of committing to your community, committing to the site where they need you—you signed up, and they’re relying on you.
“And the students have all showed up. They show up excited to learn, and everybody is taking it very seriously,” he says.
Students in the course begin preparing in January for Internal Revenue Service (IRS) exams, leading up to a Basic Course Test focused on tax knowledge and understanding that they must pass before entering the field.
“The test was probably the most intimidating part coming into the class. I knew it was going to be somewhat stressful and fast-paced,” says Jamar Ballard ’27. “Professor Peterssen was great with preparing us for the test—every single class we had with him was geared towards it. We would practice over and over again so that when it was time to take it, it wasn’t as intimidating.”
After passing the test, which every student successfully accomplished, they got to work, visiting the site for two to four hours per week, helping to prepare returns until the tax season ended.
“A lot of their commitment after the test is volunteering, but we meet on average once a week to debrief what’s going on at the site and do any additional training they might need,” Peterssen says. “We also ground our discussions in the spirit of Foundations, where we talk about the morality of the tax code, why it’s written, how it’s used, and if it’s fair. That’s been great, because there are a lot of excellent perspectives from the class.”
“Professor Peterssen has been proactive in checking in with us every week, asking us what we encountered at the site—like whether we ran into any new or different documents that, so that he could better prepare us for next week,” Ballard says. “He’s been very helpful throughout the whole program, and I want to give him a big thank you.”
The program has been especially valuable for accounting majors, who experienced a glimpse of their future careers, and the frenzy of tax season, while providing an important service to the community. Both Ballard and Emmett Lackey ’27 were interested in hands-on accounting experience when they signed up for the class and ended up gaining far more than that.
“I was interested in being able to go and practice rather than just learning in a classroom,” says Lackey. “But also, to be able to volunteer and to help people was meaningful for me. It was cool to be part of this experience.”
“Taking this class gave me accounting experience that I couldn’t get while in season for football. The best thing for me was getting into an actual work mode,” says Ballard. “But beyond all of that, you’re doing a public good. There are a lot of low-income people that can’t necessarily pay the money to get their taxes done, so to be able to come in and do a service for people that may not be able to afford it was very fulfilling.”
Rivas, who also took this course when he was an undergraduate at Assumption, has taught the course at QCC for many years, and is excited to have brought the program back to his alma mater.
“As an Assumption alumnus, I feel glad to have been able to help offer this service-learning opportunity again to Assumption students,” Rivas says. “I have run the program for several years. The students participating in the VITA program truly go above and beyond. It has been great to see their commitment not only to learning but also to helping the community. This program creates a strong sense of belonging and community, and that is something of which we are very proud.”
Ballard and Lackey encourage accounting students to take advantage of this unique opportunity come next tax season, as it will help them gain tangible skills that will translate directly to their future careers.
“If you’re going into accounting at all, this experience gives you a basic level of understanding about how to help with taxes,” says Lackey. “Everything is by paper, which makes them harder to do, but it forces you to really learn.”
Peterssen, too, hopes students take the leap and join the class, as they will certainly learn more than just how to do taxes.
“When you have everybody working towards the same common goal, everybody is going to get something out of the program,” he says. “This is a service that a lot of people use, and we need people to help. It’s important to give back.”