Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) is a national IRS-sponsored program that helps you receive your maximum federal and state tax refunds. If your household income is less than $67,000, you may qualify for VITA’s services.
The average tax preparation fee is $176. Those who can’t afford this fee either do their own taxes (often missing important tax credits) or do not file their taxes at all. Through VITA, IRS-certified volunteers complete and file your tax return for free!
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
UWECI organizes VITA in partnership community organizations to improve services and increase tax returns to local families and individuals. United Way also recruits and trains volunteers for VITA locations in Benton, Cedar, Jones, and Linn Counties. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) certified VITA volunteers tax preparers help taxpayers obtain all eligible tax credits and deductions with a particular focus on Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child Tax Credit (CTC), Education Tax Credits (ETC), and Child Care tax deductions.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance’s goal is to increase the number of financially stable households in the five-county service area of Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Jones, and Linn. Over the past 10 + years that UWECI has coordinated VITA, the number of returns and the number of volunteers has grown. Seventy-five percent of volunteers come back each year. The attention to training, preparation, and partnership development is what has made this such a successful program. Each year clients express the gratitude and necessity of VITA and how much of a difference it makes in their lives to have access to this free service.
Interested in volunteering to help prepare tax returns and make an impact in your community?
Interested in having a VITA volunteer complete your tax return for free?
VITA Results:
Tax Year 2024
| Tax Returns Prepared:
Cornell |
—-
49 |
| Total Federal Tax Refunds: | $2,323,384 |
| Total State Tax Refunds: | $480,787 |
| Overall Total Tax Refunds: | $2,804,171 |
| Total volunteer hours |
5158 |
Tax Year 2023
| Tax Returns Prepared:
Cornell Hiawatha |
—-
135 202 |
| Total Federal Tax Refunds: | $2,233,483 |
| Total State Tax Refunds: | $434,816 |
| Overall Total Tax Refunds: | $2,668,299 |
| Total volunteer hours |
5158 |
Tax Year 2022
| Tax Returns Prepared: Hiawatha Horizons: Jones County: St. Marks United Way: TOTAL: |
—- 158 563 213 319 448 1,701 |
| Total Federal Tax Refunds: | $1.995,227 |
| Total State Tax Refunds: | $444,807 |
| Overall Total Tax Refunds: | $2,440,034 |
| Total volunteer hours |
5,076 |
Tax Year 2021
| Tax Returns Prepared: Horizons: Jones County: United Way: TOTAL: |
—- 935 213 414 1,562 |
| Total Federal Tax Refunds: | $2,483,178 |
| Total State Tax Refunds: | $422,953 |
| Overall Total Tax Refunds: | $2,906,131 |
| Total volunteer hours |
5,650 |
VITA Success Stories
Mark Polking has been a volunteer with United Way of East Central Iowa (UWECI)’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program for three years.
Throughout his time volunteering with VITA, Mark has received the satisfaction of helping eligible individuals and families navigate through the overwhelming experience of filing their tax returns.
During the 2023-2024 season, Mark remembers working with a couple that legally immigrated to the United States and was working on their first-ever tax return. Expecting to have to owe taxes on their return, the couple was quite surprised to actually get a refund.
A result that would not have been possible without the service the VITA program provides.
“I had the pleasure of walking them through their tax returns,” Mark said. “As we had another client no show at the same timeslot, I was able to spend extra time with them to share a short tutorial on how our tax system works. They followed everything I was saying and asked good questions along the way.”
This is just one example of how the VITA program changes lives and uplifts our community to economic mobility. The couple Mark and his team worked with found out numerous factors that contributed to getting a refund, such as:
- Identifying applicable tax credits
- Understanding the standard deduction reduces the amount of income subject to tax
- Reviewing paycheck tax withholdings
Mark and his team vividly remember the couple’s reaction to using VITA services and receiving their tax refund.
It’s a driving force in what makes volunteers want to continue to contribute to the community and VITA program.
“They were overjoyed,” Mark said. “They were ecstatic and hugged each other. They gave me high-fives repeatedly, as I assured them their tax refund was real. My entire team that day agreed that experiences like this one are why we volunteer with VITA.”
During the 2023 tax season, 100 volunteers gave over 5,100 hours of their time to provide free tax assistance to local residents. Because of their efforts and the opportunity to offer this critical service to individuals, our VITA program makes a difference in our community.
“It was truly the most rewarding experience I’ve had while being a VITA volunteer,” Mark said. “The impact our team felt was tremendous.”
Additional information about UWECI’s VITA program can be found online at uweci.org/vita.
An elderly woman heard about VITA and was able to make an appointment to get her taxes done.
During her appointment, the woman explained she did not have great experiences with tax preparation after her husband passed away a few years ago, and was thankful for a tax preparation option with no fee.
The woman received a clear explanation of what her refund would be, and was excited to have that money for daily expenses and peace of mind.
A divorced couple, who is committed to co-parenting, scheduled their VITA appointments at the same time to see which parent would most benefit in claiming their dependents.
When the father realized his children’s mother would owe money, he asked the preparers to put the children on her return because he knew the money would be spent on his children.
The couple explained that VITA helps them get the most beneficial return possible, thus helping them provide more for their children.
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