Mt. SAC’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program hosted its first session on Feb. 28, in building 79 room 3270, where students and community members were able to have their 2025 tax returns filed with the help of volunteers and faculty.
Started in 2015, VITA has served the Mt. SAC community by offering free tax return services Generally, if an individual makes $69,000 or less, they qualify to have VITA help them with their returns, free of charge.
VITA started offering their services on Feb. 28 and will continue to do so every Saturday until April 11. Services are from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and you must arrive before 12:30 p.m, according to the VITA website.
“VITA is a program sponsored by the IRS and Mt. SAC”, Steven Valdes, one of the VITA program advisors and a tenured professor at Mt. SAC said. This in turn helps the program operate as one of the larger community colleges who offer the service.
VITA’s preparers are IRS-certified volunteers who have taken Business: Accounting 59 and have also gone through VITA 1, which is theory-based training and VITA 2, which is the on-site program lab offered on Saturdays. All volunteers must take VITA 1 every year, regardless of their expertise, to renew their IRS certification.
“Some of the students have been training for at least anywhere from six to 16 weeks,” Valdes said.
The preparer is the “entry level position of this program,” Paula Tepet, a VITA volunteer and Mt. SAC accounting major, said. “You are the one who goes out and talks to the client to get base knowledge of their finances of the previous year. And then you end up preparing the actual tax form.”
On top of new trainees, “we have some students who have opened their own practices, who come back to volunteer so I know I’ve seen about four of them,” Erika Bowers, the other VITA advisor and Mt. SAC professor, said.
While the program is aimed to benefit Mt. SAC students and the community, students in the program are able to learn real world tax skills that they take with them after Mt. SAC. The program has trainees working with actual clients and tax returns, and this helps to bridge the gap between learning environment and real world pressure.
“It is a high stakes environment with the fact that it is a live return,” Elijah Salas, University of La Verne senior, Mt. SAC graduate and VITA volunteer, said. “It’s a person’s live tax return, but you have the safety net of all your reviewers, of the professors and of CPA’s.”
But even with high stakes, on opening day, the “energy [was] great. We have amazing clients … Our team of preparers are energized,” Bowers said.
Bowers and Valdes measure success in different ways for community members and students. On top of high energy, the number of returns filed and repeat customers are two ways that the VITA program helps to gauge their success within the community.
“We earmark how many returns we’ve done, and we keep exceeding it. So last year we did 550. This year, we’re earmarked to do 600. So every year we’re growing. I think our first year, we may have done maybe 100,” Bowers said.
But it isn’t just about numbers, since “probably half of the people we’ve had today, I remember them. I remember their kids, I remember that they came last year,” Bowers said.
And while the program is designed to benefit the community, the students who get hands-on experience benefit too.
“We have a goal here of at least having each student that’s enrolled in our program to at least do one return a day,” Valdes said. “That’s a successful day, is everyone does one return.”
And students don’t just stop at VITA volunteering, but “A lot of our own students actually have started their own businesses,” Valdes said. “It feels great … I’m going to use the term making a difference, making a contribution, and that’s how we feel … It proves that it can be done.”
Drina Morlares, a West Covina resident and Mt. SAC student, who used the VITA program for the second time this year, said she returned “because I know it’s students that are preparing the taxes” and being able “to help them get their experience” factored into her decision. And not only was her second visit successful, but “I’m bringing my sons back,” Morales said.
The VITA website’s “What Do I Need to Bring” section lists out what’s needed to successfully file a return, but “I often see [students] not bring their 1098-T. And one of the reasons why is because it’s not misled to you, you have to go to your student portal. So that is a key piece of information because it can give you some credits that you’re not even aware of,” Bowers said.
On top of being prepared and bringing all the necessary documents, Bowers said “We don’t bite,” in hopes of encouraging students to take advantage of the program. “I understand the tax environment has been such an unknown that it is scary. But if you file your taxes, you’re okay … As long as they have their IDs, their Social Security Cards, passport… we will walk them through the process … They really hold your hand through the process.”
The VITA program will continue to run through April 11, 2026, and more information can be found on their website.
